Meanings
-
1
verb
obsolete Scots law: to renounce a legal claim to any further share of one's father's estate after receiving a portion
Under the old rule, an adult child could forisfamiliate by accepting land as a final portion.
-
2
verb
obsolete Scots law, of a father: to give a child land or property accepted as the child's whole portion of the paternal estate
A father might forisfamiliate a son by settling an independent estate on him.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin forisfamiliare through its participle forisfamiliatus. The verb combines Latin foris, 'outside,' with familia, 'household or family,' and literally suggests placing someone outside the family estate after assigning that person's portion.