Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Mortgage
Mort′gage
(môr′gā̍j; 48)
, Noun.
1.
(Law)
A conveyance of property, upon condition, as security for the payment of a debt or the preformance of a duty, and to become void upon payment or performance according to the stipulated terms; also, the written instrument by which the conveyance is made.
☞ It was called a mortgage (or dead pledge) because, whatever profit it might yield, it did not thereby redeem itself, but became lost or dead to the mortgager upon breach of the condition. But in equity a right of redemption is an inseparable incident of a mortgage until the mortgager is debarred by his own laches, or by judicial decree.
Cowell.
Kent.
Mort′gage
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Mortgaged
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Mortgaging
.] 1.
(Law)
To grant or convey, as property, for the security of a debt, or other engagement, upon a condition that if the debt or engagement shall be discharged according to the contract, the conveyance shall be void, otherwise to become absolute, subject, however, to the right of redemption.
2.
Hence: To pledge, either literally or figuratively; to make subject to a claim or obligation.
Mortgaging
their lives to covetise. Spenser.
I myself an
mortgaged
to thy will. Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Mortgage
MORTGAGE
,Noun.
1.
Literally, a dead pledge; the grant of an estate in fee as security for the payment of money, and on the condition that if the money shall be paid according to the contract, the grant shall be void, and the mortgagee shall re-convey the estate to the mortgager. Formerly the condition was,that if the mortgager should repay the money at the day specified, he might then re-enter on the estate granted in pledge; but the modern practice is for the mortgagee, on receiving payment, to reconvey the land to the mortgager. Before the time specified for payment, that is, between the time of contract and the time limited for payment, the estate is conditional, and the mortgagee is called tenant in mortgage; but on failure of payment at the time limited, the estate becomes absolute in the mortgagee. But in this case, courts of equity interpose,and if the estate is of more value than the debt, they will on application grant a reasonable time for the mortgager to redeem the estate. This is called the equity of redemption.2.
The state of being pledged; as lands given in mortgage.3.
A pledge of goods or chattels by a debtor to a creditor, as security for the debt.MORTGAGE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To pledge; to make liable to the payment of any debt or expenditure. Already a portion of the entire capital of the nation is mortgaged for the support of drunkards.