Inheritance

[in-her-i-tuh ns] /ɪnˈhɛr ɪ təns/

noun
1.
something that is or may be ; property passing at the owner’s death to the heir or those entitled to succeed; legacy.
2.
the genetic characters transmitted from parent to offspring, taken collectively.
3.
something, as a quality, characteristic, or other immaterial possession, received from progenitors or predecessors as if by succession:
an inheritance of family pride.
4.
the act or fact of by succession, as if by succession, or genetically:
to receive property by inheritance.
5.
portion; birthright; heritage:
Absolute rule was considered the inheritance of kings.
6.
Obsolete. right of possession; ownership.
/ɪnˈhɛrɪtəns/
noun
1.
(law)

2.
the act of inheriting
3.
something inherited; heritage
4.
the derivation of characteristics of one generation from an earlier one by heredity
5.
(obsolete) hereditary rights
n.

late 14c., enheritaunce “fact of receiving by hereditary succession;” early 15c. as “that which is inherited,” from Anglo-French enheritance, Old French enheritaunce, from enheriter (see inherit). Heritance “act of inheriting” is from mid-15c.

inheritance in·her·i·tance (ĭn-hěr’ĭ-təns)
n.

inheritance
(ĭn-hěr’ĭ-təns)
The process by which traits or characteristics pass from parents to offspring through the genes.
programming, object-oriented
In object-oriented programming, the ability to derive new classes from existing classes. A derived class (or “subclass”) inherits the instance variables and methods of the “base class” (or “superclass”), and may add new instance variables and methods. New methods may be defined with the same names as those in the base class, in which case they override the original one.
For example, bytes might belong to the class of integers for which an add method might be defined. The byte class would inherit the add method from the integer class.
See also Liskov substitution principle, multiple inheritance.
(2000-10-10)