Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Estate \Es*tate"\, n. [OF. estat, F. ['e]tat, L. status, fr.
   stare to stand. See {Stand}, and cf. {State}.]
   1. Settled condition or form of existence; state; condition
      or circumstances of life or of any person; situation.
      ``When I came to man's estate.'' --Shak.

            Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low
            estate.                               --Romans xii.
                                                  16.

   2. Social standing or rank; quality; dignity.

            God hath imprinted his authority in several parts,
            upon several estates of men.          --Jer. Taylor.

   3. A person of high rank. [Obs.]

            She's a duchess, a great estate.      --Latimer.

            Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords,
            high captains, and chief estates of Galilee. --Mark
                                                  vi. 21.

   4. A property which a person possesses; a fortune;
      possessions, esp. property in land; also, property of all
      kinds which a person leaves to be divided at his death.

            See what a vast estate he left his son. --Dryden.

   5. The state; the general body politic; the common-wealth;
      the general interest; state affairs. [Obs.]

            I call matters of estate not only the parts of
            sovereignty, but whatsoever . . . concerneth
            manifestly any great portion of people. --Bacon.

   6. pl. The great classes or orders of a community or state
      (as the clergy, the nobility, and the commonalty of
      England) or their representatives who administer the
      government; as, the estates of the realm (England), which
      are (1) the lords spiritual, (2) the lords temporal, (3)
      the commons.

   7. (Law) The degree, quality, nature, and extent of one's
      interest in, or ownership of, lands, tenements, etc.; as,
      an estate for life, for years, at will, etc. --Abbott.

   {The fourth estate}, a name often given to the public press.