Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (2)
1.
(law) any property that is considered by law or custom as inseparable from an inheritance is inherited with that inheritance;
2.
something that has been in a family for generations;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Heirloom \Heir"loom`\, n. [Heir + loom, in its earlier sense of
implement, tool. See Loom the frame.]
Any furniture, movable, or personal chattel, which by law or
special custom descends to the heir along with the
inheritance; any piece of personal property that has been in
a family for several generations.
[1913 Webster]
Woe to him whose daring hand profanes
The honored heirlooms of his ancestors. --Moir.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
heirloom
n 1: (law) any property that is considered by law or custom as
inseparable from an inheritance is inherited with that
inheritance
2: something that has been in a family for generations
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
25 Moby Thesaurus words for "heirloom":
bequeathal, bequest, birthright, borough-English, coheirship,
coparcenary, entail, gavelkind, heirship, hereditament, heritable,
heritage, heritance, incorporeal hereditament, inheritance,
law of succession, legacy, line of succession, mode of succession,
patrimony, postremogeniture, primogeniture, reversion, succession,
ultimogeniture