Definitions

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

  • noun The legal process by which the validity of a will is established.
  • noun Judicial certification of the validity of a will.
  • transitive verb To establish the validity of (a will) by probate.
  • adjective Of or relating to probate or to a probate court.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Proved; approved.
  • Relating to the proof or establishment of wills and testaments: as, probate duties.
  • noun Proof.
  • noun In law, official proof of a will.

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

  • transitive verb To obtain the official approval of, as of an instrument purporting to be the last will and testament.
  • adjective Of or belonging to a probate, or court of probate.
  • adjective a court for the probate of wills.
  • adjective [Eng.] a government tax on property passing by will.
  • noun obsolete Proof.
  • noun Official proof; especially, the proof before a competent officer or tribunal that an instrument offered, purporting to be the last will and testament of a person deceased, is indeed his lawful act; the copy of a will proved, under the seal of the Court of Probate, delivered to the executors with a certificate of its having been proved.
  • noun The right or jurisdiction of proving wills.

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

  • noun law The legal process of verifying the legality of a will.
  • noun law A copy of a legally recognised and qualified will.
  • noun Short for probate court.
  • verb transitive To establish the legality of (a will).

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

  • verb put a convicted person on probation by suspending his sentence
  • noun a judicial certificate saying that a will is genuine and conferring on the executors the power to administer the estate
  • noun the act of proving that an instrument purporting to be a will was signed and executed in accord with legal requirements
  • verb establish the legal validity of (wills and other documents)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English probat, from Latin probātum, neuter past participle of probāre, to prove; see prove.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin probatus, past participle of probare ("to test, examine, judge of"); see probe, prove.

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