Devastavit
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an executor or administrator; devastation.
"Waſt may be committed by ſelling or confuſing the Teſtator's Goods, leaving debts unpaid. By […] not having enough to pay them by ſelling of the Teſtator's Goods at an undervalue if by Covin, but if upon a judgment the Sheriff ſell them at undervalue, this is no Devaſtavit in the Executor."
- 2 In full, writ of devastavit: a writ issued against an executor or administrator claiming compensation for such misapplication of assets.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Waſt may be committed by ſelling or confuſing the Teſtator's Goods, leaving debts unpaid. By […] not having enough to pay them by ſelling of the Teſtator's Goods at an undervalue if by Covin, but if upon a judgment the Sheriff ſell them at undervalue, this is no Devaſtavit in the Executor."
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin dēvastāvit (“he has wasted”), from dēvastāre, from dēvastō (“I devastate, I lay waste”), from de- + vastāre (from vastō (“I devastate, I lay waste, I ravage”), from vastus (“deserted, wasted”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂st- (“empty; wasted”)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.