headright

English

Etymology

From head +‎ right.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdɹʌɪt/

Noun

headright (plural headrights)

1. (Canada, US, now historical) A legal grant to own unsettled land in colonial America, or the land so claimed. [from 18th c.]
   • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 4:

     By 1846 we had moved past the line of settlement, to my father's headright on the Pedernales.