appanage Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any customary and rightful perquisite appropriate to your station in life
    apanage.
    • for thousands of years the chair was an appanage of state and dignity rather than an article of ordinary use
  2. noun a grant (by a sovereign or a legislative body) of resources to maintain a dependent member of a ruling family
    apanage.
    • bishoprics were received as appanages for the younger sons of great families

WordNet

Ap"pa*nage noun
Etymology
F. apanage, fr. OF. apaner to nourish, support, fr. LL. apanare to furnish with bread, to provision; L. ad + pains bread.
Definitions
  1. The portion of land assigned by a sovereign prince for the subsistence of his younger sons.
  2. A dependency; a dependent territory.
  3. That which belongs to one by custom or right; a natural adjunct or accompaniment. "Wealth . . . the appanage of wit." Swift.

Webster 1913