Definition of "heritage" []

• Property that is or can be inherited; an inheritance. (noun)
• Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition. (noun)
• The status acquired by a person through birth; a birthright: a heritage of affluence and social position. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term "heritage turkey" has become such a marketing buzzword that unscrupulous farmers and grocers might be tempted to apply it indiscrimately, to things like organic or free-range turkeys, in order to charge premium prices."
• "For the present, let us leave the term heritage to the economist for the material wealth with which he is primarily concerned, and employ the term _tradition_ for these immaterial and distinctively social elements we are here specially considering."
• "You know the first day I walked in here I talked about the term heritage brands that you've heard me speak of this afternoon."