Sĕt'tle-ment (sĕt'tl-),, n.
n. 1. The act of settling, or the state of being settled; as, specifically, (a.) Establishment in life; fixture in business, condition, or the like; ordination or installation as pastor. “Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth, power, or settlement in the world.” L’Estrange. (b.) Establishment of inhabitants; act of peopling, or state of being peopled; colonization; as, the settlement of a new country. (c.) The act or process of adjusting or determining; composure of doubts or differences; pacification; liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment; as, the settlement of a controversy, of a debt, and the like. (d.) Bestowal or giving possession under legal sanction; the act of conferring any thing in a formal and permanent manner.
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take, With settlement as good as law can make. Dryden.
(e.) (Law.) A disposition of property for the benefit of some person or persons, usually through the medium of trustees, and for the benefit of a wife, children, or other relatives; jointure granted to a wife, or the act of granting it.
Sense 2. That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed; as, (a.) Matter that subsides; settlings; lees; dregs. “Fuller’s earth left a thick settlement.” Mortimer. (b.) A colony newly established; a place settled; as, settlements at the west. (c.) That which is bestowed formally and permanently; the sum secured to a person; especially, a jointure made to a woman at her marriage; also, a sum of money or other property granted to a minister on his ordination, exclusive of his salary.
Sense 3. (Law.) A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or town to his support. Blackstone. Bouvier.