 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
testament
noun
1: a profession of belief; "he stated his political testament"
2: a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the
disposal of their property when they die [syn: {will}]
3: strong evidence for something; "his easy victory was a
testament to his skill"
4: either of the two main parts of the Christian Bible
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Testament \Tes"ta*ment\, noun [F., fr. L. testamentum, fr. testari
to be a witness, to make one's last will, akin to testis a
witness. Cf. {Intestate}, {Testify}.]
1. (Law) A solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which
a person declares his will as to disposal of his estate
and effects after his death.
Note: This is otherwise called a will, and sometimes a last
will and testament. A testament, to be valid, must be
made by a person of sound mind; and it must be executed
and published in due form of law. A man, in certain
cases, may make a valid will by word of mouth only. See
{Nuncupative will}, under {Nuncupative}.
2. One of the two distinct revelations of God's purposes
toward man; a covenant; also, one of the two general
divisions of the canonical books of the sacred Scriptures,
in which the covenants are respectively revealed; as, the
Old Testament; the New Testament; -- often limited, in
colloquial language, to the latter.
He is the mediator of the new testament . . . for
the redemption of the transgressions that were under
the first testament. --Heb. ix. 15.
{Holographic testament}, a testament written wholly by the
testator himself. --Bouvier.
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Testament
occurs twelve times in the New Testament (Heb. 9:15, etc.) as
the rendering of the Gr. diatheke, which is twenty times
rendered "covenant" in the Authorized Version, and always so in
the Revised Version. The Vulgate translates incorrectly by
testamentum, whence the names "Old" and "New Testament," by
which we now designate the two sections into which the Bible is
divided. (See {BIBLE}.)
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