Hypothecate

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hypothecate \Hy*poth"e*cate\, v. 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}.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           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.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  hypothecate
       v 1: pledge without delivery or title of possession
       2: to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds;
          "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps"
          [syn: {speculate}, {theorize}, {theorise}, {conjecture}, {hypothesize},
           {hypothesise}, {suppose}]