legacy Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (law) a gift of personal property by will
    bequest.

WordNet

Leg"a*cy noun
Etymology
L. (assumed) legatia, for legatum, from legare to appoint by last will, to bequeath as a legacy, to depute: cf. OF. legat legacy. See Legate.
Wordforms
plural Legacies
Definitions
  1. A gift of property by will, esp. of money or personal property; a bequest. Also Fig.; as, a legacy of dishonor or disease.
  2. A business with which one is intrusted by another; a commission; -- obsolete, except in the phrases last legacy, dying legacy, and the like.
    My legacy and message wherefore I am sent into the world. Tyndale.
    He came and told his legacy. Chapman.
    related to gold-digger (latter for any riches, not just a legacy)

Webster 1913