See Also: pawn(medicine)
pawn(4)(dictionary)
pawn(3)(dictionary)
pawn(2)(dictionary)
pawn(1)(dictionary)
PAWN(law)
Pawn Broker(money)
pawn 1, noun(dictionary)
pawn 2, verb(dictionary)
PAWN-BROKER(law)

pawn(4) (iou)



pawn noun3 & verb. L15.
[Old French pan, pand, pant pledge, security, plunder from West Germanic word repr. by Old Frisian pand, Old Saxon, Middle Dutch pant (Dutch pand), Old High German pfant (German Pfand).]
A. noun.
A thing or person given, or left in another's keeping, as security for a debt or for the performance of some action; a pledge, a surety. Now rare. L15.
b. fig. (A sign or symbol of) a promise. L16.
c. A person held as a security for debt and used as a slave. M19.
The state or condition of being given or held as a pledge or as security for the repayment of a loan. Chiefly in at pawn, in pawn. M16
Blackwood's Magazine Redeem one of the innumerable suits..he has in pawn.
b. The action of pawning or pledging something. E19.
A pawnbroker, a pawnshop. Chiefly Scot. M19.
Comb.: pawnbroker a person who lends money on the security of an article pawned; pawnbrokery (a) a pawnbroker's shop; (b) pawnbroking; pawnbroking the occupation or action of lending money on the security of pawned articles; pawnshop a pawnbroker's shop or place of business; pawn-ticket: issued by a pawnbroker in exchange for an article pawned, bearing particulars of the loan.
b. verb trans. Give (a thing) as security for the payment of a debt or the performance of an action; spec. deposit with a person, esp. a pawnbroker, as security for the repayment of a loan. Also fig., pledge, wager, (one's honour, life, word, etc.). M16.
G. Greene I've pawned a lot..and dropped the ticket in the nearest dustbin. A. N. Wilson Eladie..had to pawn her diamond cross for 4.
pawnable adjective M18.
pawnage noun (rare) the action of pawning something; a pawned object: E17-M19.
pawner noun M18.