Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A separate and individual right to possession or ownership that is not shared with any other person.
  • noun Land, property, or an estate owned in severalty.
  • noun The quality or condition of being held or owned in severalty.
  • noun Archaic The quality or condition of being separate and distinct.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A state of separation from the rest, or from all others: used chiefly of the tenure of property.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A state of separation from the rest, or from all others; a holding by individual right.
  • noun (Law) an estate which the tenant holds in his own right, without being joined in interest with any other person; -- distinguished from joint tenancy, coparcenary, and common.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law the sole holding of property by someone.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being several and distinct
  • noun exclusive individual ownership

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word severalty.

Examples

  • The Pi-Utes, heretofore entitled to live on the Malheur Reservation, their primeval home, are to have lands allotted to them in severalty, at the rate of one hundred and sixty acres to each head of a family, and each adult male.

    Life Among The Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims 1883

  • This right was not parcelled out to us in severalty, that is to say, to each the exclusive navigation of so much of the river as was adjacent to our several shores -- in which way it would have been useless to all -- but it was placed on that footing on which alone it could be worth anything, to wit: as a right to all to navigate the whole length of the river in common.

    Reports and Opinions While Secretary of State 1892

  • Cherokee property was held in severalty, or by the tribe.

    History of American Women Maggiemac 2008

  • Gregory for Marcus on Podex by Daddy de Wyer, old baga-broth, beeves and scullogues, churls and vassals, in same, sept and severalty and one by one and sing a mamalujo.

    Finnegans Wake 2006

  • The said commissioner shall, in concurrence with the proper officers of the Gay Head tribe, cause a survey of all the land held in severalty, by the members of said tribe, setting out the same to each, by betes and bounds, and, when the survey is complete, shall cause a record of the portion of each proprietor to be made in the registry of deeds, of the county of Dukes

    The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920 Various

  • He failed, but held out hope to his clients and urged them under no circumstances to go back to their lands at Klamath, advising them as counsel to take up lands in severalty under the pre-emption laws of the United States.

    Reminiscences of a Pioneer William Thompson

  • In all these five reservations, lands have been secured in severalty to the Indians, and largely through his persistent devotion to their welfare.

    The American Missionary — Volume 44, No. 06, June, 1890 Various

  • Provision has been made for giving lands in severalty, and the next great movement should be to induce the

    The American Missionary — Volume 42, No. 11, November, 1888 Various

  • Other planks of the platform related to lands in severalty, to the legal rights of the Indians, etc. -- all of which were unanimously approved, and thus once more this remarkable Conference followed its predecessors in free and frank debate, consummated by entire harmony in the result.

    The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 11, November, 1889 Various

  • The Indians were guaranteed the same rights to lands in severalty and the division of common lands as in the case of other

    The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920 Various

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.