mortmain

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: mort=main

CIDE DICTIONARY

mortmain, n. [F. mort, morte, dead + main hand; F. main-morte. See Mortal, and Manual.].

 Possession of lands or tenements in, or conveyance to, dead hands, or hands that cannot alienate.  [1913 Webster]
" The term was originally applied to conveyance of land made to ecclesiastical bodies; afterward to conveyance made to any corporate body."  Burrill.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mortmain, n. Law 1 the status of lands or tenements held inalienably by an ecclesiastical or other corporation.
2 the land or tenements themselves.

Etymology

ME f. AF, OF mortemain f. med.L mortua manus dead hand, prob. in allusion to impersonal ownership

ROGET THESAURUS

mortmain

Freedom

N freedom, liberty, independence, license, facility, scope, range, latitude, play, free play, full play, free scope, full scope, free stage and no favor, swing, full swing, elbowroom, margin, rope, wide berth, Liberty Hall, franchise, denization, free man, freed man, livery man, denizen, autonomy, self-government, liberalism, free trade, noninterference, Monroe Doctrine, immunity, exemption, emancipation, enfranchisement, affranchisement, free land, freehold, allodium, frankalmoigne, mortmain, bushwhacker, freelance, free thinker, free trader, independent, free, free as air, out of harness, independent, at large, loose, scot-free, left alone, left to oneself, in full swing, uncaught, unconstrained, unbuttoned, unconfined, unrestrained, unchecked, unprevented, unhindered, unobstructed, unbound, uncontrolled, untrammeled, unsubject, ungoverned, unenslaved, unenthralled, unchained, unshackled, unfettered, unreined, unbridled, uncurbed, unmuzzled, unrestricted, unlimited, unmitigated, unconditional, absolute, discretionary, unassailed, unforced, uncompelled, unbiassed, spontaneous, free and easy, at ease, at one's ease, degage, quite at home, wanton, rampant, irrepressible, unvanquished, exempt, freed, freeborn, autonomous, freehold, allodial, gratis, eleutherian, unclaimed, going a begging, freely, ad libitum, ubi libertas ibi patria, free white and twenty-one.