Please accept this intimation

Question

What does the phrase "accept this intimation" mean in the context of a funeral notice?

Is it appropriate to use when announcing the consecration (Unveiling in the Jewish ritual) of a tombstone?

Answer 1

I found that genealogists are familiar with the phrase:

"Friends please accept this the only intimation" meant "we are not going to be sending out cards announcing the death & funeral arrangements to you all". (Such cards had been the custom, but were gradually replaced by newspaper announcements.)

It follows that the phrase is only appropriate if the prevailing practice is to send out individual notifications of the sad occasion [not the case in my community for either death or unveiling].

Answer 2

The word intimate has a long-standing and accepted meaning as a verb:

Oxford Dictionaries Online, intimate (2):

verb, [with object], state or make known:

Mr Hutchison has intimated his decision to retire.

I would say that there is nothing wrong with using accept this intimation when announcing the consecration of a tombstone. I don't believe the phrase has any special meaning beyond that which can be inferred from the meaning of intimate.