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
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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
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 Coolidge, Dane
These bonds they dispose of or hypothecate to obtain loans on.
From Disputed Handwriting An exhaustive, valuable, and comprehensive work upon one of the most important subjects of to-day. With illustrations and expositions for the detection and study of forgery by handwriting of all kinds by Lavay, Jerome Buell
He had no power to hypothecate any part of the public revenue.
From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 3 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
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
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
Cashier Rosenthal revealed that Richard Whitney had established "Richard Whitney's stock control account" in January, had transferred big batches of customers' securities to it, then apparently hypothecated them for personal loans.
From Time Magazine Archive
What a pity my own acres are already hypothecated!
From The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea by Reid, Mayne
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
The Don would likely have provided him with the money, and he would have done it by hypothecating more of the Delcasar lands to MacDougall.
From The Blood of the Conquerors by Fergusson, Harvey
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 Reid, Mayne
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 McFee, William
If any one of us wants money, Roguin will get it for him by hypothecating his share.
From Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Balzac, Honoré de
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.
