settledness (setldnes)

The state of being settled, in any sense of the word. We cannot but imagine the great mixture of innocent disturbances and holy pa ions that, in the first addre of the angel, did... discompose her settledne . When tion Jer . Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), I. 27. we have attained to a settledne of dis pos i our life is labour. Bp . Hall , Occasional Meditations, § 67. settlement1 (set'l-ment), n. [ settle1 + -ment . Cf. settlement2.] 1. The act of settling, or the state of being settled. I went to Deptford, where I made preparation for my settlement, no more intending to go out of England, but endeavour a settl'd life. Evelyn, Diary, March 9, 1652. (a) Establishment in life; especially, establishment in a busine or profe ion or in the married state. Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth, power, or settlement in the world. Sir R. L'Estrange. (b) The act of colonizing or peopling; colonization: as, the settlement of a new country. The settlement of Oriental colonies in Greece produced no sensible effect on the character either of the language or the nation. W. Mure, Lit. of Greece, I. v. § 1. The laws and representative institutions of England were first introduced into the New World in the settlement of Virginia. J. R. Green, Short Hist. Eng. People, viii. § 4. (c) The ordination or installation of a minister over a church or congregation. [Colloq.] (d) Adjustment of affairs, as the public affairs of a nation, with special reference to questions of succe ion to the throne, relations of church and state, etc.; also, the state of affairs as thus adjusted. Compare the phrase Act of Settlement, below. Owning no religion but primitive, no rule but Scripture, no law but right reason. For the rest, always conformable to the present settlement , without any sort of singularity. Evelyn, To Dr. Wotton, March 30, 1696. 2. In law: (a) The conveyance of property or the creation of estates therein to make future provision for one or more beneficiaries, usually of the family of the creator of the settlement, in such manner as to secure to them different interests, or to secure their expectancies in a different manner, from what would be done by a mere conveyance or by the statutes of descent and distribution. (See strict.) Thus, a marriage settlement is usually a gift or conveyance to a wife or intended wife, or to trustees for her benefit or that of herself for life and her husband or children or both after her, in consideration of which she waives her right to claim dower or to succeed to his property on his death. An agreement to make a marriage settlement shall be decreed in equity after the marriage, though it was to be made before the marriage. Black stone, Com., I. xv., note 29. Mr. Casaubon's behaviour about settlements was highly satisfactory to Mr. Brooke, and the preliminaries of marriage rolled smoothly along. George Eliot, Middle march, ix. (b) A bestowing or granting under legal sanction; the act of conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner. My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take, With settlement as good as law can make. Dryden, tr. of Idylls of Theocritus, xxvii. 3. A settled place of abode; residence; a right arising out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and pledges the parish or town to his support. They'll pa you on to your settlement , Mi is, with all parishes 'ceptin' as a Casual. IMG:content-0727.png:[blocks in formation] 5. In sparsely settled regions of the United settlor (set'lor), n. [ There was a clearing of ten acres, a blacksmith's shop, four log huts facing indiscriminately in any direction, a small store of one story and one room, and a new frame court-house, whitewashed and inclosed by a plank fence. In the last se ion of the legislature, the Settlement had been made the county-seat of a new county; the additional honor of a name had been conferred upon it, but as yet it was known among the population of the mountains by its time-honored and accustomed title [i. e., the Settle ment]. M. N. Murfree , In the Tenne ee Mountains, p. 91. 6t. That which settles or subsides; sediment; dregs; lees; settlings. The waters [of the ancient baths] are very hot at the sources; they have no particular taste, but by a red set tlement on the stones, and by a yellow scum on the top of the water, I concluded that there is in them both iron and sulphur. Pococke , Description of the East, II. ii. 41. 7. In building , etc., a subsidence or sinking, as of a wall or part of a wall, or the effect of such subsidence, often producing a cracked or unstable condition, binding or dis adjustment of doors or shutters, etc.-8. A sum of money formerly allowed to a pastor in addition to his regular salary. [U. S.] Before the war began, my people punctually paid my salary, and advanced one hundred pounds of my settle ment a year before it was due by contract. Rev. Nath . Emmons , Autobiography. ( Bartlett .) 9. A pastor's homestead as furnished by a parish, by a gift either of land, with or without buildings, or of money to be applied for its purchase. [U. S.] I had just purchased a settlement and involved myself in debt. Rev. Nath. Emmons, Autobiography. ( Bartlett.) Act of Settlement. Same as Limitation of the Crown Act (which see, under limitation ). - Disposition and settlement. See disposition. - Family settlement, in Eng, law, the arrangement now used instead of entail, by which land is transferred in such manner as to secure its being kept in the family for a considerable period, usually by giving it to one child, commonly the eldest son, for his life, and then to his sons and their i ue if he have any, and on failure of i ue then to the second son of the settlor for his life, and then to his sons, and so on. a settlement a son to whom the land is given for life, and his son on coming of age, can together convey an absolute title and thus part with the family estates. Under such settlement (set'l-ment), n. [ Taking the paper from before his kinsman, he [Rob Roy] threw it in the fire. Bailie Jarvie stared in his turn, but his kinsman continued "That's a Hieland settlement of accounts." Ring settlement. See ring1. Scott , Rob Roy, xxxiv.