IOU
or I.O.U.
- a written acknowledgment of a debt, especially an informal one consisting only of the letters IOU, the sum owed, and the debtor's signature.
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Origin of IOU
First recorded in 1610–20; representing I owe you
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for iou
Contemporary Examples
She is the author of the bestsellers The Silent Takeover and IOU: The Debt Threat .
Historical Examples
It answers to the Welsh au or iau, and the Breton ou or iou.
A Handbook of the Cornish LanguageHenry Jenner
This way he had more to eat or to sell for IOU's to collect later.
The Biography of a RabbitRoy Benson
The evening previous he had lost a thousand dollars, for which he had given his IOU.
Jack's WardHoratio Alger, Jr.
IOU
- a written promise or reminder to pay a debt
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Word Origin
C17: representing I owe you
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
IOU
Abbreviation for “I owe you.” An IOU is a written statement of a borrower's obligation to pay a debt.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.