ancestry, ancestrie, a unces trie, auncestrre

[O. Eng. an cestre; -y.] 1. The whole series or succe ion of persons, the last pair of whom were one's father and mother; the men and women who lived in one's country before he was born, and came of the same race as he now is. Many precious rites And customs of our rural ancestry Are gone or stealing from us." Words worth: The Excursion , bk. ii. 2. High birth, aristocratic or otherwise honourable lineage. "Who so wil seeke, by right deserts, t'attaine, Unto the type of true nobility: And not by painted shewes, and titles vaine, Derived farre from famous a unces trie ." Spenser: Sonnets: True Nobility . "Heirs to their labours, like all high-born heirs, Vain of our ancestry as they of theirs." Byron: Opening of Drury Lane Theatre, 1812.