stirpes

Variant of stirps

noun pl. stirpes

  1. family or branch of a family
  2. Law the person from whom a family or branch of a family is descended

Origin: L, lit., a stalk, trunk, root < IE base *ster-, rigid, stiff, stare

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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