Definition for BEN-E-FI'CIA-RY

BEN-E-FI'CIA-RY, n.

  1. One who holds a benefice. A beneficiary is not the proprietor of the revenues of his church; but he has the administration of them, without being accountable to any person. The word was used, in the middle ages, for a feudatory, or vassal. – Encyc.
  2. One who receives any thing as a gift, or is maintained by charity. – Blackstone.

Return to page 56 of the letter “B”.