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to devise

to devise

4 8.6
To leave property to someone in a will
  • verb
  • /dɪˈvaɪz/
  • Formal
translation icon : legar
  • At issue in the case was a lease to Rumford Market, which had been devised to a trustee to hold in trust for an infant.
  • judicially devised
  • originally devised

Examples

  • One seeks to return to Leninist policy as originally devised.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Among the three countries discussed below, the United Kingdom devised the largest and most comprehensive deliberative process to address this question.

    Academic text (2005)
  • I give, devise and bequeath my entire estate, real, personal and mixed, onto Bernhardt Tiede the Second, outright and simple.

  • The GBI simultaneously began to support the work of the Ministry of Labor to devise a law that would extend the April 1939 decree to include Jewish tenants in Jewish-owned housing as well.

    Academic text (1996)
  • In her will, she decided to devise her family's summer home to her only son.

  • The lawyer explained how to devise the property to beneficiaries according to the wishes of the deceased.

  • He intended to devise his estate to charity, ensuring it would be used for a good cause.

Synonyms

to bequeath
vsto devise
  • Formal
24 8.9

To leave property or money to someone in your will when you die

is limited to real estate only rather than all property types
to demise
vsto devise
  • Formal
1 9.9

To give property to someone by a lease or will

is used only for transfers that happen by will not by lease

Surface Forms

devise infinitive
devised past
devised past participle
devising present participle
devises third person singular

Etymology

Devise (verb, law) comes from the same old idea of 'dividing' property to others in a will and once meant 'to give by will'. So to devise property is to leave parts of your property to someone in your will.