A deed or document containing or constituting evidence of ownership. Also fig. (Most common in pl.)
a. 1768. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., I. vii. § 24. Tutors … ought carefully to preserve the title-deeds of the minor’s estate.
1830. Praed, Poems (1865), I. 185. Your agent steals your title-deeds.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 393. It was … desirable that … this titledeed by which the King held his throne and the people their liberties, should be put into a strictly regular form.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., ii. They … got to themselves lands by the title-deed of the sword.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, v. 224. He lost all his title deeds, the evidences and charters whereby he held his little estate.
