See Also: Legitimate(money)
Legitimate(finance)
legitimate(1)(dictionary)
legitimate(2)(dictionary)
LEGITIMATE(law)
legitimate 1, adjective(dictionary)
legitimate 2, verb(dictionary)
Legitimate Hand - Poker(gambling)
Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights(encyclopedia)

bespeck (iou) and legitimate(1) (iou)


bespeck (iou)



bespeck verb trans. M16.
[from BE- 1 + SPECK verb.]
Mark with spots or specks. Usu. in pass.

legitimate(1) (iou)



legitimate adjective & noun. LME.
[medieval Latin legitimatus pa. pple of legitimare legitimize, from Latin leg-, lex law: see -ATE2.]
A. adjective.
(Of a child) having the status of one born to parents lawfully married to each Other, entitled in law to full filial rights; (of a parent) lawfully married to the Other parent of a child; (of status, descent, etc.) of or through such parents or children. LME.
R. Ellmann Lady Wilde presented her husband with three legitimate offspring to match his three illegitimate ones. A. N. Wilson Sergey did the decent thing..and married her, giving her children legitimate status.
b. Genuine, not spurious. M16-E19.
a. Conformable to, sanctioned or authorized by, law or principle; lawful; justifiable; proper. M17.
H. Kissinger The only legitimate war aim left for the United States was to get its prisoners back. W. van T. Clark We must act in a reasoned and legitimate manner, not as a lawless mob.
b. Normal, regular; conformable to a recognized standard type; Horse-racing designating flat-racing as opp. to hurdle-racing or steeplechasing. M17.
New Yorker I grew up exposed to the wealthy..and..wealthy people became legitimate to me.
c. Designating or pertaining to Art considered to have aesthetic merit or serious intent, esp. (a) conventional theatre or drama as opp. to musical comedy, farce, etc.; (b) classical Music as opp. to jazz or popular Music. L18.
S. Brett I am an actor in the legitimate theatre; these are mere variety artistes.
d. Sanctioned by the laws of reasoning; logically admissible or inferable. L18.
e. Of a monarch, sovereignty, etc.: justified or validated by the strict principle of hereditary right. E19.
b. noun.
A legitimate child. L16.
A supporter or advocate of strict hereditary succession to a throne, a legitimist. Also, a legitimate monarch. E19.
a. The legitimate theatre. L19.
b. An actor in the legitimate theatre. Cf. earlier LEGIT noun 1. M20.
legitimately adverb L16.
legitimateness noun legitimacy E17.