estate es‧tate [ɪˈsteɪt] noun [countable]
1. PROPERTY a large piece of land in the country, usually with one large house on it and one owner:
• The estate consists of the main villa, several outbuildings and barns, a swimming pool, a farm house and an old mill.
2. FARMING land used for growing a particular crop, especially tea, coffee, or rubber:
• efficiently run coffee estates
3. PROPERTY an area of land with factories and offices
an area in or near a city or town where there are many small factories; = industrial park AmE:
• The firm's plant employs 92 people on the town's industrial estate.
an area just outside a city or town where there are small factories and businesses;
= business park AmE 4. LAW PROPERTY when someone owns all or part of a piece of land, and any buildings on it, or has a right to use it
when land and buildings are owned by someone completely and with no limit in time:
• Until 1540 freehold estates could not be left in a will.
when land and buildings are held and used by someone for a period of time and then return to their original owner:
• A leasehold estate is measured by a fixed period of time.
the legal ownership of land, for a particular time or permanently:
• To have a legal estate, whether freehold or leasehold, is to enjoy quite a considerable degree of individual freedom.
when someone owns all or part of a piece of land and its buildings, or has a right to use them, but only for the length of time they are alive:
• In the case of a life estate, the estate is held for the life of the tenant.
5. LAW all of someone's money and property, especially everything that is left after they die:
• In her original will, she left her whole estate to her only son.
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estate UK US /ɪˈsteɪt/ noun
► PROPERTY commercial/industrial/trading estate »
He rents a unit on an industrial estate.
»
a housing estate
► PROPERTY,
LAW leave your estate to sb »
She left her entire estate to her niece.
► UK COMMERCE estate of sth »
The company, which has an estate of 650 pubs, was one of the first to open smoke-free sites.
► PROPERTY »
It's a typical country estate with a large house for the owner, farm buildings and estate workers' houses.