Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Tontine
Ton-tine′
,Noun.
[F., from It.
tontina
; – so called from its inventor, Tonti
, an Italian, of the 17th century.] An annuity, with the benefit of survivorship, or a loan raised on life annuities with the benefit of survivorship. Thus, an annuity is shared among a number, on the principle that the share of each, at his death, is enjoyed by the survivors, until at last the whole goes to the last survivor, or to the last two or three, according to the terms on which the money is advanced. Used also adjectively;
as,
. tontine
insurance Too many of the financiers by professions are apt to see nothing in revenue but banks, and circulations, and annuities on lives, and
tontines
, and perpetual rents, and all the small wares of the shop. Burke.
Webster 1828 Edition
Tontine
TONTINE
,Noun.
Definition 2024
tontine
tontine
English
Noun
tontine (plural tontines)
- (finance, insurance) A form of investment in which, on the death of an investor, his share is divided amongst the other investors.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 634:
- there were many speculative schemes which gambled on the expectation of an individual's life, as in the tontine system, whereby all the group's contributions went to the last survivor.
- 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate 2011, p. 237:
- They were pleasantly high, but in an almost self-conscious way, as if they were members of a tontine blessed by the unexpected death of two or three of its members.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 634:
