hypothecate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to pledge to a creditor as security without delivering over; mortgage.
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to put in pledge by delivery, as stocks given as security for a loan.
verb (used with or without object)
verb
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(tr) law to pledge (personal property or a ship) as security for a debt without transferring possession or title
-
to allocate the revenue raised by a tax for a specified purpose See also bottomry
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hypothecate1
1675–85; < Medieval Latin hypothēcātus, past participle of hypothēcāre. See hypothec, -ate 1
Origin of hypothecate2
First recorded in 1905–10; from Greek hypothḗk(ē) “suggestion, counsel” (from hypotithénai “to assume, suppose”; see hypo- ( def. ), thesis ( def. )) + -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But previous attempts to "hypothecate" - or earmark - National Insurance contributions for specific public services have been abandoned.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
If they had no property real or personal to hypothecate, they could borrow on their personal credit only from usurers, who charged 20% and more interest.
From Time Magazine Archive
She would get Carmen to hypothecate her own interest in this new company, if necessary.
From Carmen Ariza by Charles Francis Stocking
Now here’s the proposition: according to law your father isn’t legally dead–he won’t be for seven years–and so your mother, not being his heir yet, had no right to hypothecate that stock.
From Shadow Mountain by Dane Coolidge
True: she had mentioned some personal jewellery she planned to hypothecate.
From The Lone Wolf A Melodrama by Louis Joseph Vance
He also called for a specific chunk of taxes raised to be "hypothecated" - earmarked - for the NHS, which he said was "in a state of profound crisis".
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2017
Others tout a hypothecated tax, perhaps giving national-insurance contributions to the NHS.
From Economist ● Nov. 19, 2015
"However, Mr. Eaton had failed to deliver $12,000,000 worth of the stocks sold because they were already hypothecated with banks for a $5,100,000 loan."
From Time Magazine Archive
Dr. Jeans hypothecated that our planetary system was produced by the collision or close approach of another star to the sun.
From Time Magazine Archive
And as it has been already hypothecated for this, both Boniface and bar-keeper would rather rejoice to see their sailor-guest clear out of the “Home” for good, leaving the chest behind him.
From The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea by Mayne Reid
The U. S. Department of Labor was considering the possibility of hypothecating its German-Austrian immigration quota for the next three years to admit up to 81,000 refugees into the country.
From Time Magazine Archive
Could he but have known that he was hypothecating the more valuable animal with but slight chance of redeeming it, the bargain would have been off on the instant.
From No Quarter! by Mayne Reid
It was as though he had suddenly cashed in on all his available resources of happiness, hypothecating them for the immediate and attainable yet romantic present.
From Command by William McFee
He saw his way clear to meeting his obligations without the necessity of hypothecating the California timber; and was the better pleased for it.
From The Riverman by Stewart Edward White
"It seems to have been a case," went on the detective unhurriedly, "of dropping down the scale for her until she was up against the question of diving into East River—or hypothecating the one asset."
From The Tyranny of Weakness by Paul Stahr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
