entail

[v. en-teyl; n. en-teyl, en-teyl] /v. ɛnˈteɪl; n. ɛnˈteɪl, ˈɛn teɪl/
verb (used with object)
1.
to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence:
a loss entailing no regret.
2.
to impose as a burden:
Success entails hard work.
3.
Law. to limit the passage of (a landed estate) to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be alienated, devised, or bequeathed.
4.
Law. to cause (anything) to descend to a fixed series of possessors.
noun
5.
the act of entailing.
6.
Law. the state of being entailed.
7.
any predetermined order of succession, as to an office.
8.
Law. something that is entailed, as an estate.
9.
Law. the rule of descent settled for an estate.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English entailen (v.), entail (noun). See en-1, tail2
Related forms
entailer, noun
entailment, noun
nonentailed, adjective
preentail, verb (used with object)
unentailed, adjective
Examples from the web for entail
  • If the opposition were to win, it would not entail a radical departure from current policies.
  • Rose isn't sure what her new role as big sister will entail.
  • She knew that returning to the city would entail some housing compromises and that her children might have to share a bedroom.
  • Neither company offered details on when the services would debut or what they would entail.
  • The reception, she predicted, would entail “a couple of beers” somewhere.
  • The judge did not explain exactly what a regional approach would entail.
  • Jobs that entail excessive typing leads to painful finger joints.
  • Controlling costs does not have to entail a sacrifice in quality.
  • Such scenarios would entail a huge shift in global trade patterns.
  • The boy inherited the estate through an entail.
British Dictionary definitions for entail

entail

/ɪnˈteɪl/
verb (transitive)
1.
to bring about or impose by necessity; have as a necessary consequence: this task entails careful thought
2.
(property law) to restrict (the descent of an estate) to a designated line of heirs
3.
(logic) to have as a necessary consequence
noun
4.
(property law)
  1. the restriction imposed by entailing an estate
  2. an estate that has been entailed
Derived Forms
entailer, noun
Word Origin
C14: entaillen, from en-1 + taille limitation, tail²
Word Origin and History for entail
v.

mid-14c., "convert (an estate) into 'fee tail' (feudum talliatum)," from en- (1) "make" + taile "legal limitation," especially of inheritance, ruling who succeeds in ownership and preventing it from being sold off, from Anglo-French taile, Old French taillie, past participle of taillier "allot, cut to shape," from Late Latin taliare. Sense of "have consequences" is 1829, from notion of "inseparable connection." Related: Entailed; entailling.

Encyclopedia Article for entail

in feudal English law, an interest in land bound up inalienably in the grantee and then forever to his direct descendants. A basic condition of entail was that if the grantee died without direct descendants the land reverted to the grantor. The concept, feudal in origin, supported a landed aristocracy because it served to prevent the disintegration of large estates through divisible inheritance or the lack of heirs. Statutory reforms in England now permit the owner to convey the entailed land by a simple deed and even by will

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