noun
- the act or state of settling or the state of being settled.
- the act of making stable or putting on a permanent basis.
- a state of stability or permanence.
- an arrangement or adjustment, as of business affairs or a disagreement.
- an agreement signed after labor negotiations between union and management.
- the terms reached in this agreement.
- the settling of persons in a new country or place.
- a colony, especially in its early stages.
- a small community, village, or group of houses in a thinly populated area.
- a community formed and populated by members of a particular religious or ideological group: a Shaker settlement.
- the satisfying of a claim or demand; a coming to terms.
- Law.
- final disposition of an estate or the like.
- the settling of property, title, etc., upon a person.
- the property so settled.
- British.
- legal residence in a specific place.
- (of a pauper) the right to claim food and shelter from an official agency or specific town or district.
- Also called settlement house. Social Work. an establishment in an underprivileged area providing social services to local residents.
- a subsidence or sinking of all or part of a structure.
noun
- the act or state of settling or being settled
- the establishment of a new region; colonization
- a place newly settled; colony
- a collection of dwellings forming a community, esp on a frontier
- a community formed by members of a group, esp of a religious sect
- a public building used to provide educational and general welfare facilities for persons living in deprived areas
- a subsidence of all or part of a structure
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- the payment of an outstanding account, invoice, charge, etc
- (as modifier)settlement day
- an adjustment or agreement reached in matters of finance, business, etc
- law
- a conveyance, usually to trustees, of property to be enjoyed by several persons in succession
- the deed or other instrument conveying such property
- the determination of a dispute, etc, by mutual agreement without resorting to legal proceedings
n.1620s, “act of fixing or steadying;” from settle (v.) + -ment. Meaning “a colony,” especially a new one, “tract of country newly developed” is attested from 1690s; that of “small village on the frontier” is from 1827, American English. Sense of “payment of an account” is from 1729; legal sense “a settling of arrangements” (of divorce, property transfer, etc.) is from 1670s.