noun
1. : a court having jurisdiction over the probate of wills and the administration of decedents' estates and in some states over the estates of minors and other legally incompetent persons and in some states having a limited jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases — called also court of probate ; compare ordinary's court , orphans' court, prefect's court , surrogate 1c
2. : a British court established in 1857 with jurisdiction over the probate of wills and administration of decedents' personal estates formerly exercised by the ecclesiastical courts and also in probate matters over realty and now forming part of the probate, divorce, and admiralty division of the High Court of Justice