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Webster 1913 Edition


Hypothecate

Hy-poth′e-cate

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Hypothecated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Hypothecating
.]
[LL.
hypothecatus
, p. p. of
hypothecare
to pledge, fr. L.
hypotheca
pledge, security. See
Hypotheca
.]
(Law)
To subject, as property, to liability for a debt or engagement without delivery of possession or transfer of title; to pledge without delivery of possession; to mortgage, as ships, or other personal property; to make a contract by bottomry. See
Hypothecation
,
Bottomry
.
He had found the treasury empty and the pay of the navy in arrear. He had no power to
hypothecate
any part of the public revenue. Those who lent him money lent it on no security but his bare word.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hypothecate

HYPOTH'ECATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. hypotheca, a pledge; Gr. to put under, to suppose.]
1.
To pledge,and properly to pledge the keel of a ship, that is, the ship itself, as security for the repayment of money borrowed to carry on a voyage. In this case the lender hazards the loss of his money by the loss of the ship, but if the ship returns safe, he received his principal,with the premium or interest agreed on, though it may exceed the legal rate of interest.
2.
To pledge, as goods.

Definition 2024


hypothecate

hypothecate

English

Verb

hypothecate (third-person singular simple present hypothecates, present participle hypothecating, simple past and past participle hypothecated)

  1. (transitive) To pledge (something) as surety for a loan; to pawn, mortgage.
    • 1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin 2005, p. 12:
      ‘My husband, Jasper Murdock, provided in his will that no part of his collection might be sold, loaned or hypothecated during my lifetime.’
  2. (politics, Britain) To designate a new tax or tax increase for a specific expenditure

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