Settlement
Settlement , noun
1.
The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
(a)
Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth power, or settlement in the world.
(b)
The act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.
(c)
The act or process of adjusting or determining; composure of doubts or differences; pacification; liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment; as, settlement of a controversy, of accounts, etc.
(d)
Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take,
With settlement as good as law can make.
(e)
(Law) A disposition of property for the benefit of some person or persons, usually through the medium of trustees, and for the benefit of a wife, children, or other relatives; jointure granted to a wife, or the act of granting it.
2.
That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
(a)
Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs. [Obsolete]
Fuller's earth left a thick settlement.
(b)
A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled; as, settlement in the West.
(c)
That which is bestowed formally and permanently; the sum secured to a person; especially, a jointure made to a woman at her marriage; also, in the United States, a sum of money or other property formerly granted to a pastor in additional to his salary.
3.
(a) (Architecture) The gradual sinking of a building, whether by the yielding of the ground under the foundation, or by the compression of the joints or the material.
(b)
(Architecture) Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
4.
(Law) A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or town to his support. — Blackstone. Bouvier
Collocations (1)
Act of settlement (Eng. Hist.) , the statute of 12 and 13 William III, by which the crown was limited to the present reigning house (the house of Hanover). — Blackstone