See Also: demise(dictionary)
demise(dictionary)
DEMISE, contracts(law)
DEMISE, persons(law)

demise (iou)



demise noun & verb. LME.
[Anglo-Norman, use as noun of fem. pa. pple of Old French de(s)mettre (mod. demettre) dismiss, (refl.) resign, abdicate.]
A. noun.
a. Law. Conveyance or transfer of an estate by will or lease; an instance of this. LME.
b. Transference of sovereignty, as by the death or deposition of the sovereign. Chiefly in demise of the crown. M17.
A death which occasions such transference; gen. death; downfall, disappearance, final fate. M16.
S. Richardson Her father's considerable estate, on his demise..went with the name. Gladstone The Odyssey does not bring us to the demise of Odusseus. C. Beaton The war of 1914-18 had hastened the demise of the tightly swathed skirt.
b. verb.
verb trans. Law. Convey or grant (an estate) by will or lease. LME.
b. Transmit (a title etc., esp. sovereignty) by death or abdication. L17.
G. B. Smith He..recommended the Convention to declare that James II had voluntarily demised the crown.
verb trans.
a. Let go; dismiss. M16-E17.
b. Pass on, impart. L16-M17.
Shakespeare Richard III What Honour Canst thou demise to any child of mine?
verb intrans. Decease, die; pass on the crown (by death). rare. E18.
demisable adjective M17.