pignus
Americannoun
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property held as security for a debt.
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the contract containing such a pledge.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pignus
< Latin: literally, pledge
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:
The "pignus amoris" of the former is a small earthenware vessel in the shape of a book, intended apparently to hold a "nosegay" of flowers.
From Notes and Queries, Number 71, March 8, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George
Among the Romans the ring was a pledge, pignus, that the betrothal contract would be fulfilled.
From One Wonderful Night A Romance of New York by Tracy, Louis
The Roman word "pignus," which Plutarch translates by ἐνέχυρα, means a thing pawned and delivered as a security to the pawnee.
From Plutarch's Lives Volume III. by Stewart, Aubrey
Wilson, who gives an account of this celebration, compares the ancient Roman New Year's, with the mutui amoris pignora which were sent at that season.
From The Religions of India Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow by Hopkins, Edward Washburn
To take pledges, "pignora capere," was to seize something that belonged to a man in order to compel the discharge of a duty.
From Plutarch's Lives Volume III. by Stewart, Aubrey
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.
