heirloom

English

WOTD – 12 July 2009

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English heirlome (“heirloom”, literally “a tool or article passed to one's heirs”), equivalent to heir +‎ loom.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɛə.luːm/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɛəɹ.lum/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

heirloom (plural heirlooms)

  1. A valued possession that has been passed down through the generations.
    Synonym: patrimony
    • 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 135:
      Morning rehearsal starts at eleven. Wheeler takes a taxi from the hotel to the venue, bringing his tuxedo and his violin with him. His violin is an heirloom, more than a hundred years old, and while he's touring it never leaves his sight. (His tuxedo is just a tuxedo.)
  2. (horticulture) An old crop variety that has been passed down through generations of farmers by seed saving and cultivation, in contrast to modern cultivars used in large-scale agriculture.
    • 2009 August 19, Melissa Clark, “Plums Rescue a Seasonal Favorite”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      My last trip to the market barely yielded enough unmealy heirlooms for a couple of salads.
    • 2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎[2]:
      At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.
    • 2017 January 26, Nick Visser, “Scientists Say Something Is Very Wrong With The Tomato”, in HuffPost‎[3]:
      In a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, a team of researchers say they analyzed the genetic code of nearly 400 varieties of tomatoes ― from the common red supermarket types to the funky heirlooms found in farmers markets.

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