Mortgage

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈmɔː.ɡɪdÊ’/
• US IPA: /ˈmɔɹ.ɡɪdÊ’/

Origin

From Anglo-Norman mortgage, Middle French mortgage, from Old French mort gage ("death pledge"), after a translation of judicial Medieval Latin mortuum vadium or mortuum wadium, from mortuum + vadium or wadium, of (Frankish) origin, from a root *waddi, wadja. Cf. gage and also wage.

Full definition of mortgage

Noun

1. (legal) 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.
   We're renting a property in the city centre because we can't afford to get a mortgage yet.
2. (obsolete) State of being pledged.
   lands given in mortgage

Derived terms

• anaconda mortgage

Verb

1. (transitive, legal) 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.
   to mortgage a property, an estate, a shop
   We mortgaged our house in order to start a company.
2. (transitive, figurative) To pledge and make liable; to make subject to obligation; to achieve an immediate result by paying for it in the long term.

Related terms

• mortgagee
• mortgager