|1.||(in England before 1926) the reversion of property to the
Crown in the absence of legal heirs| |2.||(in feudal times) the
reversion of property to the feudal lord in the absence of legal
heirs or upon outlawry of the tenant| |3.||the property so
reverting| |4.||to take (land) by escheat or (of land) to revert
by escheat| |[C14: from Old French eschete, from escheoir to
fall to the lot of, from Late Latin excadere (unattested), from
Latin cadere to fall]| |to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.|
|to bark; yelp.| in feudal English land law, the return or
forfeiture to the lord of land held by his tenant. There were
generally two conditions by which land would escheat: the death
of the tenant without heirs or the conviction of the tenant for
a felony. In case of felony, the land would lose its
inheritability and escheat to the lord, who would then hold the
land subject to the crown's right to exploit the felon's lands
for a year and a day. In time, this exploitation right of the
crown was commuted in return