Probate Court, or Court of Probate, a court for the probate of wills.Probate duty, a government tax on property passing by will. [Eng.]

Probate
(Pro"bate) v. t. To obtain the official approval of, as of an instrument purporting to be the last will and testament; as, the executor has probated the will.

Probation
(Pro*ba"tion) n. [L. probatio, fr. probare to try, examine, prove: cf. F. probation. See Prove.]

1. The act of proving; also, that which proves anything; proof. [Obs.]

When by miracle God dispensed great gifts to the laity, . . . he gave probation that he intended that all should prophesy and preach.
Jer. Taylor.

2. Any proceeding designed to ascertain truth, to determine character, qualification, etc.; examination; trial; as, to engage a person on probation. Hence, specifically: (a) The novitiate which a person must pass in a convent, to probe his or her virtue and ability to bear the severities of the rule. (b) The trial of a ministerial candidate's qualifications prior to his ordination, or to his settlement as a pastor. (c) Moral trial; the state of man in the present life, in which he has the opportunity of proving his character, and becoming qualified for a happier state.

No [view of human life] seems so reasonable as that which regards it as a state of probation.
Paley.

Probational
(Pro*ba"tion*al) a. Probationary.

Probationary
(Pro*ba"tion*a*ry) a. Of or pertaining to probation; serving for trial.

To consider this life . . . as a probationary state.
Paley.

Probationer
(Pro*ba"tion*er) n.

1. One who is undergoing probation; one who is on trial; a novice.

While yet a young probationer,
And candidate of heaven.
Dryden.

2. A student in divinity, who, having received certificates of good morals and qualifications from his university, is admitted to several trials by a presbytery, and, on acquitting himself well, is licensed to preach. [Scot.]

Probationership
(Pro*ba"tion*er*ship), n. The state of being a probationer; novitiate. Locke.

Probationship
(Pro*ba"tion*ship), n. A state of probation.

Probative
(Pro"ba*tive) a. [L. probativus: cf. F. probatif.] Serving for trial or proof; probationary; as, probative judgments; probative evidence. South.

Probator
(Pro*ba"tor) n. [L.]

Probate
(Pro"bate) n. [From L. probatus, p. p. of probare to prove. See Prove.]

1. Proof. [Obs.] Skelton.

2. (Law) (a) Official proof; especially, the proof before a competent officer or tribunal that an instrument offered, purporting to be the last will and testament of a person deceased, is indeed his lawful act; the copy of a will proved, under the seal of the Court of Probate, delivered to the executors with a certificate of its having been proved. Bouvier. Burrill. (b) The right or jurisdiction of proving wills.

Probate
(Pro"bate), a. Of or belonging to a probate, or court of probate; as, a probate record.

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