Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AN-NATS, n. [L. annus.]

A year's income of a spiritual living; the first fruits, originally given to the Pope, upon the decease of a bishop, abbot, or parish clerk, and paid by his successor. In England, they were, at the Reformation, vested in the king, and in the reign of Queen Anne, restored to the church, and appropriated to the augmentation of poor livings. – Encyc.