You searched for: “mortmains
mortmain (s) (noun), mortmains (pl)
1. The perpetual, nontransferable, and non-salable ownership of property by organizations; such as, churches: The land held by the place of worship was kept by mortmain, never to be passed on or sold to companies or people.
2. The often oppressive influence of the past on the present: Some people have lived through very disturbing and stressful conditions as children; for example, a divorce in the family or having both parents being unemployed, having debts with no money in the bank, and various other kinds of mortmains that have impacted their way of living as adults.
3. Etymology: from Latin mortua manus; literally "dead hand"; from mors, "dead" + mamus, "hand"..
This entry is located in the following units: manu-, man-, mani-, mandat-, manda- (page 6) mort-, mor-, mori-, morti- + (page 4)