Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ASSETS, n. [plur. Fr. assez, enough; It. assai, enough, or many; Ir. sath, sufficiency; sasadh, satisfaction; L. sat, satis, enough.]

1. Goods or estate of a deceased person, sufficient to pay the debts of the deceased. But the word sufficient, though expressing the original signification of assets, is not with us necessary to the definition. In present usage, assets are the money, goods or estate of a deceased person, subject by law to the payment of his debts and legacies. Assets are real or personal; real assets are lands which descend to the heir, subject to the fulfillment of the obligations of the ancestor; personal assets are the money or goods of the deceased, or debts due to him, which come into the hands of the executor or administrator, or which he is bound to collect and convert into money. – Blackstone.
2. Effects of an insolvent debtor.