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(Law) n. Expectancy; condition of being undetermined. A state of temporary inactivity. Suspense, expectation. An estate is said to be in abeyance, that is, in expectation, where there is no person existing in whom it can be vested; the law considering it as always existing, and ready to vest when a proper owner appears. A lapse in succession during which no person is vested with title. 

- Property. In every land there is a fee simple in somebody, or else it is in abeyance', that is, though for the present it be in no man, yet it is in expectancy belonging ...