settlement
    n 1: a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties
         with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their
         home state but are not literally under the home state's
         system of government; "the American colony in Paris" [syn:
         colony, settlement]
    2: a community of people smaller than a town [syn: village,
       small town, settlement]
    3: a conclusive resolution of a matter and disposition of it
    4: the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies; "the
       British colonization of America" [syn: colonization,
       colonisation, settlement]
    5: something settled or resolved; the outcome of decision
       making; "they finally reached a settlement with the union";
       "they never did achieve a final resolution of their
       differences"; "he needed to grieve before he could achieve a
       sense of closure" [syn: settlement, resolution,
       closure]
    6: an area where a group of families live together
    7: termination of a business operation by using its assets to
       discharge its liabilities [syn: liquidation, settlement]

Settlement \Set"tle*ment\, n.
   1. The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
      Specifically: 
      [1913 Webster]
      (a) Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.;
          ordination or installation as pastor.
          [1913 Webster]

                Every man living has a design in his head upon
                wealth power, or settlement in the world.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
          [1913 Webster]
      (b) The act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of
          planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by
          settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.
          [1913 Webster]
      (c) The act or process of adjusting or determining;
          composure of doubts or differences; pacification;
          liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment; as,
          settlement of a controversy, of accounts, etc.
          [1913 Webster]
      (d) Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction;
          the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal
          and permanent manner.
          [1913 Webster]

                My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures
                take,
                With settlement as good as law can make.
                                                  --Dryden.
          [1913 Webster]
      (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.
          [1913 Webster]

   2. That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
      Specifically: 
      [1913 Webster]
      (a) Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees;
          dregs. [Obs.]
          [1913 Webster]

                Fuller's earth left a thick settlement.
                                                  --Mortimer.
          [1913 Webster]
      (b) A colony newly established; a place or region newly
          settled; as, settlement in the West.
          [1913 Webster]
      (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, in the United
          States, a sum of money or other property formerly
          granted to a pastor in additional to his salary.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. (Arch.)
      (a) The gradual sinking of a building, whether by the
          yielding of the ground under the foundation, or by the
          compression of the joints or the material.
      (b) pl. Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
          [1913 Webster]

   4. (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.
      [1913 Webster]

   Act of settlement (Eng. Hist.), the statute of 12 and 13
      William III, by which the crown was limited to the present
      reigning house (the house of Hanover). --Blackstone.
      [1913 Webster]

SETTLEMENT, domicil. The right which a person has of being considered as 
resident of a particular place. 
     2. It is obtained in various ways, to wit: 1. By birth. 2. By the legal 
settlement of the father, in the case of minor children. 3. By marriage. 4. 
By continued residence. 5. By the payment of requisite taxes. 6. By the 
lawful exercise of a public office. 7. By hiring and service for a year. 8. 
By serving an apprenticeship; and perhaps some others which depend upon the 
local statutes of the different states. Vide 1 Bl. Com. 363; 1 Dougl. 9; 2 
Watts' Rep. 44, 342; 2 Penna. R. 432; 5 Serg. & Rawle, 417; 2 Yeates' R. 51; 
5 Binn. R. 81; 3 Binn. R.. 22; 6 Serg. & Rawle, 103, 565; 10 Serg. & Rawle, 
179. Vide Domicil. 

SETTLEMENT, contracts. The conveyance of an estate, for the benefit of some 
person or persons. 
     2. It is usually made on the prospect of marriage for the benefit of 
the married pair, or one of them, or for the benefit of some other persons, 
as their children. Such settlements vest the property in trustees upon 
specified terms, usually for the benefit of the husband and wife during 
their joint lives, and then for the benefit of the survivor for life, and 
afterwards for the benefit of children. Ante-nuptial agreements of this kind 
will be enforced in equity by a specific performance of them, provided they 
are fair and valid, and the intention of the parties is consistent with the 
principles and policy of law. Settlements after marriage, if made in 
pursuance of an agreement in writing entered into prior to the marriage, are 
valid, both against creditors and purchasers. 
     4. When made without consideration, after marriage, and the property of 
the husband is settled upon his wife and children, the settlement will be 
valid against subsequent creditors, if, at the time of the settlement being 
made, he was not indebted; but, if he was then indebted, it will be void as 
to the creditors existing at the time of the settlement; 3 John. Ch. R. 481; 
8 Wheat. R. 229; unless in cases where the husband received a fair 
consideration in value of the thing settled, so as to repel the presumption 
of fraud. 2 Ves. 16 10 Ves. 139. Vide 1 Madd. Ch. 459; 1 Chit. Pr. 57; 2 
Kent, Com. 145; 2 Supp. to Ves. jr. 80, 375; Rob. Fr. Conv. 188. See Atherl. 
on Mar. passim. 
     5. The term settlement is also applied to an agreement by which two or 
more persons, who have dealings together, so far arrange their accounts, as 
to ascertain the balance due from one to the other; and settlement sometimes 
signifies a payment in full.