Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Inheritance \In*her"it*ance\, n. [Cf. OF. enheritance.]
   1. The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an
      estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities.

   2. That which is or may be inherited; that which is derived
      by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a
      possession which passes by descent.

            When the man dies, let the inheritance Descend unto
            the daughter.                         --Shak.

   3. A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, esp. one
      received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction.

            To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and
            that fadeth not away.                 --1 Pet. i. 4.

   4. Possession; ownership; acquisition. ``The inheritance of
      their loves.'' --Shak.

            To you th' inheritance belongs by right Of brother's
            praise; to you eke ?longs his love.   --Spenser.

   5. (Biol.) Transmission and reception by animal or plant
      generation.

   6. (Law) A perpetual or continuing right which a man and his
      heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by
      descent as heir to another, or which he may transmit to
      another as his heir; an estate derived from an ancestor to
      an heir in course of law. --Blackstone.

   Note: The word inheritance (used simply) is mostly confined
         to the title to land and tenements by a descent.
         --Mozley & W.

               Men are not proprietors of what they have, merely
               for themselves; their children have a title to
               part of it which comes to be wholly theirs when
               death has put an end to their parents' use of it;
               and this we call inheritance.      --Locke.

Source : WordNet®

inheritance
     n 1: hereditary succession to a title or an office or property
          [syn: {heritage}]
     2: that which is inherited; a title or property or estate that
        passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner [syn:
        {heritage}]
     3: (genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from
        the parents [syn: {hereditary pattern}]
     4: any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited
        from ancestors; "my only inheritance was my mother's
        blessing"; "the world's heritage of knowledge" [syn: {heritage}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

inheritance
     
         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)