Meaning

noun a judicial certificate saying that a will is genuine and conferring on the executors the power to administer the estate

noun the act of proving that an instrument purporting to be a will was signed and executed in accord with legal requirements

verb put a convicted person on probation by suspending his sentence

originFrom Middle English probate, from Latin probatus, past participle of probare (“to test, examine, judge of”); see probe, prove.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0