noun
- death or decease.
- termination of existence or operation: the demise of the empire.
- Law.
- a death or decease occasioning the transfer of an estate.
- a conveyance or transfer of an estate.
- Government. transfer of sovereignty, as by the death or deposition of the sovereign.
verb (used with object), de·mised, de·mis·ing.
- Law. to transfer (an estate or the like) for a limited time; lease.
- Government. to transfer (sovereignty), as by the death or abdication of the sovereign.
verb (used without object), de·mised, de·mis·ing.
- Law. to pass by bequest, inheritance, or succession.
noun
- failure or terminationthe demise of one’s hopes
- a euphemistic or formal word for death
- property law
- a transfer of an estate by lease
- the passing or transfer of an estate on the death of the owner
- the immediate transfer of sovereignty to a successor upon the death, abdication, etc, of a ruler (esp in the phrase demise of the crown)
verb
- to transfer or be transferred by inheritance, will, or succession
- (tr) property law to transfer (an estate, etc) for a limited period; lease
- (tr) to transfer (sovereignty, a title, etc) by or as if by the death, deposition, etc, of a ruler
mid-15c., from Middle French demise, fem. past participle of démettre “dismiss, put away,” from des- “away” (from Latin dis-) + Middle French mettre “put,” from Latin mittere “let go, send” (see mission). Originally “transfer of estate by will,” meaning extended 1754 to “death” because that’s when this happens.