All 4 Uses of

legacy
in
The Crying of Lot 49

Back in the office, he outlined what she was in for: learn intimately the books and the business, go through probate, collect all debts, inventory the assets, get an appraisal of the estate, decide what to liquidate and what to hold on to, pay off claims, square away taxes, distribute legacies..."Hey," said Oedipa, "can't I get somebody to do it for me?"†
Chpt 1

She had dedicated herself, weeks ago, to making sense of what Inverarity had left behind, never suspecting that the legacy was America.†
Chpt 6

What would the probate judge have to say about spreading some kind of a legacy among them all, all those nameless, maybe as a first installment?
Chpt 6 *

legacy = gift left after death

For there either was some Tristero beyond the appearance of the legacy America, or there was just America and if there was just America then it seemed the only way she could continue, and manage to be at all relevant to it, was as an alien, unfurrowed, assumed full circle into some paranoia.†
Chpt 6

Definition:

coming from the past or left to the future

in various senses including:

in law -- a gift given through a will -- "She left a legacy of $10,000 to her niece."
of a situation -- resulting from the past -- "Today's debt problem is a legacy of profligate spending by prior administrations."
of culture -- a practice passed from one generation to the next -- "The city has along legacy of bribes and corruption."
of technology -- something that still uses old technology -- "We're using a legacy software that only the old-timers know how to update."
of a member or potential member of an organization -- the child of a previous member -- "She is a legacy candidate."