An"ces*try (#), n. [Cf. OF. ancesserie. See Ancestor.]

1.

Condition as to ancestors; ancestral lineage; hence, birth or honorable descent.

Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible. Addison.

2.

A series of ancestors or progenitors; lineage, or those who compose the line of natural descent.

 

© Webster 1913.