Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The life tenure that by common law is held by a man over the property of his deceased wife if children with rights of inheritance were born during the marriage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See courtesy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Law) the life estate which a husband has in the lands of his deceased wife, which by the common law takes effect where he has had issue by her, born alive, and capable of inheriting the lands.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The tenure that a man is entitled to over the property of his deceased wife if there is a child who could inherit it.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English courtesie; see courtesy.]

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Examples

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  • The misspelling tag is incorrect. A curtesy is a life estate that a widower has in land his son(s) will inherit.

    December 26, 2008