entail

verb
/ɛnˈteɪl/CA/enˈtæɪl/

Etymology

From Middle English entaillen, from Old French entaillier, entailler (“to notch”, literally “to cut in”); from prefix en- + tailler (“to cut”), from Late Latin taliare, from Latin talea. Compare late Latin feudum talliatum (“a fee entailed, i.e., curtailed or limited”).

  1. derived from talea
  2. derived from taliare
  3. derived from entaillier
  4. inherited from entaillen

Definitions

  1. To imply, require, or invoke.

    • This activity will entail careful attention to detail.
    • God's immateriality entails the divine attribute of incorporeality, that God is neither a body nor embodied.
  2. To settle or fix inalienably on a person or thing, or on a person and his descendants or…

    To settle or fix inalienably on a person or thing, or on a person and his descendants or a certain line of descendants; -- said especially of an estate; to bestow as a heritage.

    • 1754-1762, David Hume, The History of England Allowing them to entail their estates.
    • I here entail The crown to thee and to thine heirs forever.
  3. To appoint hereditary possessor.

    • To entail him and his heirs unto the crown.
  4. + 2 more definitions
    1. That which is entailed.

      • A power of breaking the ancient entails, and of alienating their estates.
    2. Delicately carved ornamental work

      Delicately carved ornamental work; intaglio.

      • A worke of rich entayle.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at entail. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01entail02estate03collective04plurality05holding06law07binding08rope09stronger

A definitional loop anchored at entail. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at entail

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA