demise

What it means

1. countableuncountablelawThe conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years, most commonly the latter.
2. countableuncountableTransmission by formal act or conveyance to an heir or successor; transference; especially, the transfer or transmission of the crown or royal authority to a successor.

   1 more example

   Immediately upon the Royal Assent being signified to this Act the Instrument of Abdication […] shall have effect, and thereupon His Majesty shall cease to be King and there shall be a demise of the Crown, and accordingly the member of the Royal Family then next in succession to the Throne shall succeed thereto and to all the rights, privileges, and dignities thereunto belonging.

   1936, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Section 1”, in His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, page 1

3. countableDeath; decease.

   Earth looked her loveliest to receive my sweet sister's gentle dust; but all was harsh and sullen as her own nature when Lady Avonleigh's haughty ashes returned to their original element. Immediately after her demise, her son went abroad, and I accompanied him.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 124

   Synonyms: fatality, quietus, death, end, tomb, celestial transfer, decease, decomposition

In a sentence

Immediately upon the Royal Assent being signified to this Act the Instrument of Abdication […] shall have effect, and thereupon His Majesty shall cease to be King and there shall be a demise of the Crown, and accordingly the member of the Royal Family then next in succession to the Throne shall succeed thereto and to all the rights, privileges, and dignities thereunto belonging.

1936, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Section 1”, in His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, page 1

Where it comes from

1. Middle Englishdimisen
2. Latindēmissa
3. Middle Frenchdémise
4. Middle Englishdemyse
5. Englishdemise

From Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished. The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun.