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
It has always seemed to me pertinent to enquire, when Golcondas and Eldorados are offered for a song, why the vendor should be so anxious to hypothecate his priceless privileges.
From Captain Macedoine's Daughter by McFee, William
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 will not repudiate a promise to pay while he has money in bank or securities to hypothecate.
From The Pride of Palomar by Kyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)
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
According to Mr. Dewey, in 1932, 1937 and 1938 Dick Whitney hypothecated its securities for loans of $100,000, $100,000 and $400,000.
From Time Magazine Archive
"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
The assignats were hypothecated on the property of the clergy, now become the property of the nation, and the greater part of which had been already sold.
From Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Imbert de Saint-Amand, Arthur Léon, baron
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
"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 Stahr, Paul
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 did not once occur to her that she could raise money by hypothecating the jewel at a pawn-shop: by hook or crook she was determined to regain her own money.
From Joan Thursday by Vance, Louis Joseph
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.
