[W/K] :: jointure

  Jointure \Join"ture\, n. [F. jointure a joint, orig., a joining,
     L. junctura, fr. jungere to join. See Join, and cf.
     Juncture.]
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     1. A joining; a joint. [Obs.]
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     2. (Law) An estate settled on a wife, which she is to enjoy
        after husband's decease, for her own life at least, in
        satisfaction of dower.
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              The jointure that your king must make,
              Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised. --Shak.
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  Jointure \Join"ture\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Jointured; p. pr. &
     vb. n. Jointuring.]
     To settle a jointure upon.
     [1913 Webster]

  jointure
       n 1: (law) an estate secured to a prospective wife as a marriage
            settlement in lieu of a dower [syn: legal jointure]
       2: the act of making or becoming a single unit; "the union of
          opposing factions"; "he looked forward to the unification
          of his family for the holidays" [syn: union, unification,
           uniting, conjugation] [ant: disunion]

  56 Moby Thesaurus words for "jointure":
     agglomeration, agglutination, aggregation, appanage, articulation,
     bond, bracketing, clustering, combination, communication,
     concatenation, concourse, congeries, conglomeration, conjugation,
     conjunction, connection, convergence, copulation, coupling, dot,
     dower, dowry, endowment, foundation, gathering, hookup,
     intercommunication, intercourse, interlinking, investment, joinder,
     joining, junction, knotting, legal jointure, liaison, linkage,
     linking, marriage, marriage portion, meeting, merger, merging,
     pairing, portion, settlement, splice, symbiosis, thirds, tie,
     tie-in, tie-up, unification, union, yoking
  
  

  JOINTURE, estates.. A competent livelihood of freehold for the wife, of 
  lands and tenements; to take effect in profit or possession, presently after 
  the death of the husband, for the life of the wife at least. 
       2. Jointures are regulated by the statute of 27 Hen. VIII. o. 10, 
  commonly called the statute of uses. 
       3. To make a good jointure, the following circumstances must concur, 
  namely; 1. It must take effect, in possession or profit, immediately from 
  the death of the husband. 2. It must be for the wife's life, or for some 
  greater estate. 3. It must be limited to the wife herself, and not to any 
  other person in trust for her. 4. It must be made in satisfaction for the 
  wife's whole dower, and not of part of it only. 5. The estate limited to the 
  wife must be expressed or averred to be, in satisfaction of her whole dower. 
  6. It must be made before marriage. A jointure attended with all these 
  circumstances is binding on the widow, and is a complete bar to the claim of 
  dower; or rather it prevents its ever arising. But there are other. modes of 
  limiting an estate to a wife, which, Lord Coke says, are good jointures 
  within the statute, provided the wife accepts of them after the death of the 
  husband. She may, however, reject them, and claim her dower. Cruise, Dig. 
  tit. 7; 2 Bl. Com. 137; Perk. h.t. In its more enlarged sense, a jointure 
  signifies a joint estate, limited to both husband and. wife. 2 131. Com. 
  137. Vide 14 Vin. Ab. 540; Bac. Ab. h.t.; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1761, et seq.