mortgage

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A special form of secured loan where the purpose of the loan must be specified to the lender, to purchase assets that must be fixed (not movable) property, such as a house or piece of farm land. The assets are registered as the legal property of the borrower but the lender can seize them and dispose of them if they are not satisfied with the manner in which the repayment of the loan is conducted by the borrower. Once the loan is fully repaid, the lender loses this right of seizure and the assets are then deemed to be unencumbered.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) State of being pledged.

Verb

1. (transitive) To borrow against a property, to obtain a loan for another purpose by giving away the right of seizure to the lender over a fixed property such as a house or piece of land; to pledge a property in order to get a loan.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To pledge and make liable; to make subject to obligation; to achieve an immediate result by paying for it in the long term.

Synonyms

pledge

pawn

hypothecate

security

hypothecation

hock

bond

mortgage credit

mortgage loan

hypothec

real estate loan

loan on mortgage

credit on real estate

catch

caution

clasp

code

deposit

encumbrance

engagement

escort

fasten

fix

fixate

frame

frame up

frap

hang on

hitch

indent

indenture

infix

join

law

lien

lodging

lodgment

manage

moor

moorage

mount

pawning

peg

pin

pledging

post

public sale

reeve

rig

rule

Translations

hypothèque

ipoteca

Hypothek

hipoteca

hypotheek

υποθήκη

hypotheca

hipoteca

ipotecare

hipoteca

hypothéquer

hipotecar

υποθηκεύω

verpfänden

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: morgage

In summary

From Middle English morgage and Middle French mortgage, from Anglo-Norman morgage, from Old French mort gage (“dead pledge”), after a translation of judicial Medieval Latin mortuum wadium, with wadium from Frankish *wadi (“wager, pledge”). Compare gage and also wage. So called because rents and profits from the land were owed to the lender for as long as the gage existed (comparable to interest on a loan today), as opposed to the living gage, in which rents and profits automatically reduced the debt (paying it off over time).