escheat

i. & t. [ESCHEAT, 8.] A. Intransitive : I. Ord. Lang.: To be forfeited or given over. II. Law : Τo fall or revert to the state through failure of heirs. B. Transitive : 1. Lit .: To forfeit through failure of heirs. "To alienate any of the forfeited escheated lands."Clarendon. *2. Fig .: To forfeit, to abandon. "As doubt full whether 't should escheated be To ruine, or redeem'd to majesty." Cartwright: On Christ Church Buildings . es-cheat-a-ble, a. [Eng.escheat; -able .] That may or can be escheated; liable to escheat. es-cheat-age (age as Ig), s. [English escheat ; -age.] The right of succeeding to an escheat. "In those times were established the ridiculous rights of escheatage and shipwrecks." - Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws , bk. xxi., ch. xiii.