indenture

American  

[in-den-cher] / ɪnˈdɛn tʃər /

noun

1. a deed or agreement executed in two or more copies with edges correspondingly indented as a means of identification.

2. any deed, written contract, or sealed agreement.

3. a contract by which a person, as an apprentice, is bound to service.

4. any official or formal list, certificate, etc., authenticated for use as a voucher or the like.

5. the formal agreement between a group of bondholders and the debtor as to the terms of the debt.

6. indentation.

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verb (used with object)

• indentures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• indentured,
  past participle,  past
• indenturing
  present participle

1. to bind by indenture, as an apprentice.

2. Archaic. to make a depression in; wrinkle; furrow.

indenture British  

/ ɪnˈdɛntʃə /

noun

1. any deed, contract, or sealed agreement between two or more parties

2. (formerly) a deed drawn up in duplicate, each part having correspondingly indented edges for identification and security

3. (often plural) a contract between an apprentice and his master

4. a formal or official list or certificate authenticated for use as a voucher, etc

5. a less common word for indentation

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verb

1. (intr) to enter into an agreement by indenture

2. (tr) to bind (an apprentice, servant, etc) by indenture

3. obsolete (tr) to indent or wrinkle

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• indentureship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• indenturing
  present
• indentured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• indenture
  simple
• indentures
  simple
• have indentured
  perfect
• has indentured
  perfect
• am indenturing
  progressive
• are indenturing
  progressive
• is indenturing
  progressive
• have been indenturing
  perfect progressive
• has been indenturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• indentured
  simple
• had indentured
  perfect
• was indenturing
  progressive
• were indenturing
  progressive
• had been indenturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will indenture
  simple
• will have indentured
  perfect
• will be indenturing
  progressive
• will have been indenturing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of indenture

First recorded in 1275–1325; a Middle English word from the Medieval Latin word indentūra; see indent ¹, -ure

Explanation

An indenture is a formal legal agreement. Many earned passage to the British colonies by indenturing, or selling, themselves to a master for a period of seven years–-they were called indentured laborers. Indenture can describe what you owe to someone else. If you promised your friend you would take her shopping for a prom dress, you might fulfill your indenture over the course of three trips to the mall. A detention is an indenture of a kind––for your crime, you owe time.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

indenture indentures indentured indenturing

In a little over a year, my three-decade indenture as a full-time laundress will come to an end.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2024

Webster imagines her ancestor’s work as a milkmaid, the trial and her ultimate indenture on a plantation in Maryland where Molly met Bana’ka, the enslaved man who became the father of her children.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 21, 2023

When Fiji de-criminalized the desertion of indenture contracts in 1916, it is little wonder that hundreds of workers left the colony's sugar plantations.

From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2023

He outsmarts his brother James to escape his indenture, but then arrives in Philadelphia with barely enough money to feed himself.

From Slate ● Apr. 4, 2022

A normal indenture was seven years, but she had to pay off the debts of her parents, and the only way she was allowed to do that was to sign up for a double indenture.

From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper

Franklin Roosevelt had repudiated the so-called gold clauses in private and government bond indentures, aware that upholding payment in gold would have provoked widespread bankruptcies and devastated the federal budget.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2023

The bonds themselves have been issued with a mix of terms and indentures.

From Reuters ● Mar. 15, 2022

Myrra Dal is a contract worker, one of thousands of people serving out indentures signed by their great-grandparents in exchange for passage off a dying Earth.

From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2021

Without radical change, all of our choices at home and as a nation will be increasingly driven by servicing these indentures from which there will be no redemption.

From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2020

After breakfast, Joe brought out my indentures from the press in the best parlour, and we put them in the fire, and I felt that I was free.

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

Mark Joseph Stern: Elizabeth Turner was 8 years old when she was indentured just two days after she and her mother ostensibly gained their freedom.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

The Freedmen’s Bureau used it to reunite 110 indentured children with their parents.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

The Declaration proclaimed all men created equal, yet the new nation’s economy depended on enslaved labor in the South and indentured servitude in the North.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025

To me, indentured wealth feels like something that should be disbanded.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2024

It is not clear whether they were slaves or indentured servants, which means they would have to work for a number of years and then they would be free.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

The R.A.F. conveniently provided a scholarship, indenturing him to air service later on.

From Time Magazine Archive

The indenturing of the Bechuana rebels was a subject upon which much was said on both sides.

From Through South Africa His Visit to Rhodesia, the Transvaal, Cape Colony, Natal by Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)

The system of indenturing had long since disappeared, because legislatures and courts declined to recognize and enforce contracts for service.

From Races and Immigrants in America by Commons, John R. (John Rogers)

When I was going to South Africa on the Norman the great question of the hour was the indenturing of the Bechuanaland rebels.

From Through South Africa His Visit to Rhodesia, the Transvaal, Cape Colony, Natal by Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)

Working people of the colonial period were hoodwinked and kidnapped by shippers and speculators who reimbursed themselves by indenturing them to planters and farmers.

From Races and Immigrants in America by Commons, John R. (John Rogers)