Tes"ta*ment (?), n. [F., fr. L. testamentum, fr. testari to be a witness, to make one's last will, akin to testis a witness. Cf. Intestate, Testify.]

1. Law

A solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his will as to disposal of his estate and effects after his death.

⇒ This is otherwise called a will, and sometimes a last will and testament. A testament, to be valid, must be made by a person of sound mind; and it must be executed and published in due form of law. A man, in certain cases, may make a valid will by word of mouth only. See Nuncupative will, under Nuncupative.

2.

One of the two distinct revelations of God's purposes toward man; a covenant; also, one of the two general divisions of the canonical books of the sacred Scriptures, in which the covenants are respectively revealed; as, the Old Testament; the New Testament; -- often limited, in colloquial language, to the latter.

He is the mediator of the new testament . . . for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament. Heb. ix. 15.

Holographic testament, a testament written wholly by the testator himself. Bouvier.

© Webster 1913.