King James Bible Dictionary

PROP'ER, adjective [Latin proprius, supposed to be allied to prope, near.]

1. Peculiar; naturally or essentially belonging to a person or thing; not common. That is not proper which is common to many. Every animal has his proper instincts and inclinations, appetites and habits. Every muscle and vessel of the body has its proper office. Every art has it proper rules. Creation is the proper work of an Almighty Being.

2. Particularly suited to. Every animal lives in his proper element.

3. One's own. It may be joined with any possessive pronoun; as our proper son.

Our proper conceptions.

Now learn the difference at your proper cost.

[Note. Own is often used in such phrases; 'at your own proper cost.' This is really tautological, but sanctioned by usage, and expressive of emphasis.]

4. Noting an individual; pertaining to one of a species, but not common to the whole; as a proper name. Dublin is the proper name of a city.

5. Fit; suitable; adapted; accommodated. A thin dress is not proper for clothing in a cold climate. Stimulants are proper remedies for debility. Gravity of manners is very proper for persons of advanced age.

In Athens, all was pleasure, mirth and play

All proper to the spring and sprightly May.

6. Correct; just; as a proper word; a proper expression.

7. Not figurative.

8. Well formed; handsome.

Moses was a proper child. Hebrews 11:23.

9. Tall; lusty; handsome with bulk. [Low and not used.]

10. In vulgar language, very; as proper good; proper sweet. [This is very improper, as well as vulgar.]

Proper receptacle, in botany, that which supports only a single flower or fructification; proper perianth or involucre, that which incloses only a single flower; proper flower or corol, one of the single florets or corollets in an aggregate or compound flower; proper nectary, separate form the petals and other parts of the flower.

PROP'ERLY, adverb Fitly; suitably; in a proper manner; as a word properly applied; a dress properly adjusted.

1. In a strict sense.

The miseries of life are not properly owing to the unequal distribution of things.

PROP'ERNESS, noun The quality of being proper. [Little used.]

1. Tallness. [Not in use.]

2. Perfect form; handsomeness.

In real estate:

General references
Genesis 23:17-18; Genesis 26:20

Rights in, violated
Genesis 21:25-33; Genesis 26:18-22

Dedicated
Leviticus 27:16-25
Land

Dwellings:

Alienated for debt
Leviticus 25:29-30

Alienated by absence
2 Kings 8:1-6

In villages, inalienable
Leviticus 25:31-33

Dedicated
Leviticus 27:14-15

Confiscation of (Naboth's vineyard)
1 Kings 21:15-16

Priests exempt from taxes
Genesis 47:22

Entail of
Numbers 27:1-11; Numbers 36:1-9

Inherited
Ecclesiastes 2:21

Landmarks of, not to be removed
Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17

Personal property:

Rights in, sacred
Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21

Laws concerning trespass of, and violence to
Exodus 21:28-36; Exodus 22:9; Deuteronomy 23:25

Strayed, to be returned to owner
Leviticus 6:3-4; Deuteronomy 22:1-3

Hired
Exodus 22:14-15

Loaned
Exodus 22:10-15

Sold for debt
Proverbs 22:26-27

Rights of redemption of
Jeremiah 32:7

Dedicated to God, redemption of
Leviticus 27:9-13; Leviticus 27:26-33

In slaves
Exodus 21:4

PROP'ERTY, noun [This seems to be formed directly from proper. The Latin is proprietas.]

1. A peculiar quality of any thing; that which is inherent in a subject, or naturally essential to it; called by logicians an essential mode. Thus color is a property of light; extension and figure are properties of bodies.

2. An acquired or artificial quality; that which is given by art or bestowed by man. The poem has the properties which constitute excellence.

3. Quality; disposition.

It is the property of an old sinner to find delight in reviewing his own villainies in others.

4. The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying and disposing of a thing; ownership. In the beginning of the world, the Creator gave to man dominion over the earth, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air, and over every living thing. This is the foundation of man's property in the earth and in all its productions. Prior occupancy of land and of wild animals gives to the possessor the property of them. The labor of inventing, making or producing any thing constitutes one of the highest and most indefeasible titles to property property is also acquired by inheritance, by gift or by purchase. property is sometimes held in common, yet each man's right to his share in common land or stock is exclusively his own. One man may have the property of the soil, and another the right of use, by prescription or by purchase.

5. Possession held on one's own right.

6. The thing owned; that to which a person has the legal title, whether in his possession or not. It is one of the greatest blessings of civil society that the property of citizens is well secured.

7. An estate, whether in lands, goods or money; as a man of large property or small property

8. An estate; a farm; a plantation. In this sense, which is common in the United States and in the West Indies, the word has a plural.

The still-houses on the sugar plantations, vary in size, according to the fancy of the proprietor or the magnitude of the property

I shall confine myself to such properties as fall within the reach of daily observation.

9. Nearness or right.

Here I disclaim all my paternal care,

Propinquity and property of blood.

10. Something useful; an appendage; a theatrical term.

I will draw a bill of properties.

High pomp and state are useful properties.

11. Propriety. [Not in use.]

Literary property the exclusive right of printing, publishing and making profit by one's own writings. No right or title to a thing can be so perfect as that which is created by a man's own labor and invention. The exclusive right of a man to his literary productions, and to the use of them for his own profit, is entire and perfect, as the faculties employed and labor bestowed are entirely and perfectly his own. On what principle then can a legislature or a court determine that an author can enjoy only a temporary property in his own productions? If a man's right to his own productions in writing is as perfect as to the productions of his farm or his shop, how can the former by abridged or limited, while the latter is held without limitation? Why do the productions of manual labor rank higher in the scale of rights or property than the productions of the intellect?

PROP'ERTY, verb transitive To invest with qualities, or to take as one's own; to appropriate. [An awkward word and not used.]