[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

settlement \set"tlement\, n.
   1. the act of setting, or the state of being settled.
      specifically: 
      1913 webster
      a establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.;
          ordination or installation as pastor.
          1913 webster

                every man living has a design in his head upon
                wealth power, or settlement in the world.
                                                  --l'estrange.
          1913 webster
      b the act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of
          planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by
          settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.
          1913 webster
      c the act or process of adjusting or determining;
          composure of doubts or differences; pacification;
          liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment; as,
          settlement of a controversy, of accounts, etc.
          1913 webster
      d bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction;
          the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal
          and permanent manner.
          1913 webster

                my flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures
                take,
                with settlement as good as law can make.
                                                  --dryden.
          1913 webster
      e law a disposition of property for the benefit of
          some person or persons, usually through the medium of
          trustees, and for the benefit of a wife, children, or
          other relatives; jointure granted to a wife, or the
          act of granting it.
          1913 webster

   2. that which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
      specifically: 
      1913 webster
      a matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees;
          dregs. obs.
          1913 webster

                fuller's earth left a thick settlement.
                                                  --mortimer.
          1913 webster
      b a colony newly established; a place or region newly
          settled; as, settlement in the west.
          1913 webster
      c that which is bestowed formally and permanently; the
          sum secured to a person; especially, a jointure made
          to a woman at her marriage; also, in the united
          states, a sum of money or other property formerly
          granted to a pastor in additional to his salary.
          1913 webster

   3. arch.
      a the gradual sinking of a building, whether by the
          yielding of the ground under the foundation, or by the
          compression of the joints or the material.
      b pl. fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
          1913 webster

   4. law a settled place of abode; residence; a right growing
      out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a
      person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him
      to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or
      town to his support. --blackstone. bouvier.
      1913 webster

   act of settlement eng. hist., the statute of 12 and 13
      william iii, by which the crown was limited to the present
      reigning house the house of hanover. --blackstone.
      1913 webster
see also:
act of settlement 

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