Settlement /(?)/

Set·tle·ment

Settlement

n.
  1. The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
  2. Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
    Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth power, or settlement in the world.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
    My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take, With settlement as good as law can make.
  6. 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. (Law)
  7. That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
  8. Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs. [Obs.]
    Fuller's earth left a thick settlement.
  9. A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled; as, settlement in the West.
  10. 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.
  11. 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. (Arch.)
  12. 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. (Law)

Phrases & Compounds
Act of settlement
the statute of 12 and 13 William III, by which the crown was limited to the present reigning house (the house of Hanover).