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Pledge   /plɛdʒ/   Listen
noun
Pledge  n.  
1.
(Law) The transfer of possession of personal property from a debtor to a creditor as security for a debt or engagement; also, the contract created between the debtor and creditor by a thing being so delivered or deposited, forming a species of bailment; also, that which is so delivered or deposited; something put in pawn. Note: Pledge is ordinarily confined to personal property; the title or ownership does not pass by it; possession is essential to it. In all these points it differs from a mortgage (see Mortgage); and in the last, from the hypotheca of the Roman law. See Hypotheca.
2.
(Old Eng. Law) A person who undertook, or became responsible, for another; a bail; a surety; a hostage. "I am Grumio's pledge."
3.
A hypothecation without transfer of possession.
4.
Anything given or considered as a security for the performance of an act; a guarantee; as, mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties. "That voice, their liveliest pledge of hope."
5.
A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing, something; especially, a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or the like; as, to sign the pledge; the mayor had made no pledges.
6.
A sentiment to which assent is given by drinking one's health; a toast; a health.
Dead pledge. (Law) A mortgage. See Mortgage.
Living pledge. (Law) The conveyance of an estate to another for money borrowed, to be held by him until the debt is paid out of the rents and profits.
To hold in pledge, to keep as security.
To put in pledge, to pawn; to give as security.
Synonyms: See Earnest.


verb
Pledge  v. t.  (past & past part. pledged; pres. part. pledging)  
1.
To deposit, as a chattel, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.
2.
To give or pass as a security; to guarantee; to engage; to plight; as, to pledge one's word and honor. "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
3.
To secure performance of, as by a pledge. (Obs.) "To pledge my vow, I give my hand."
4.
To bind or engage by promise or declaration; to engage solemnly; as, to pledge one's self.
5.
To invite another to drink, by drinking of the cup first, and then handing it to him, as a pledge of good will; hence, to drink the health of; to toast. "Pledge me, my friend, and drink till thou be'st wise."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pledge" Quotes from Famous Books



... degree in which his freedom somehow resolved itself into the need of despising all mankind with a single exception; and the fact that Madame de Mauves inhabited a planet contaminated by the presence of the baser multitude kept elation from seeming a pledge of ideal bliss. ...
— Madame de Mauves • Henry James
... to enter our minds)—Well, do you know what I am thinking of, Nicolas?" he broke off, rising and taking my hand with a smile. "I propose (and I feel sure that it would benefit us mutually) that we should pledge our word to one another to tell each other EVERYTHING. We should then really know each other, and never have anything on our consciences. And, to guard against outsiders, let us also agree never to speak of one another to a third ...
— Boyhood • Leo Tolstoy
... this Lottery, had the conducting of the late State Lottery—the Public will do them the justice to say, that the strictest punctuality as to the time fixed for Drawing, and in the payment of Prizes, was observed by them in that Lottery—they pledge themselves for the same ...
— The Olden Time Series, Vol. 1: Curiosities of the Old Lottery • Henry M. Brooks
... alcohol. These things came home to the drunkards, who had not cared a rush for final perdition. The effect produced was tremendous. Almost all the men and women of the parish took the total abstinence pledge; and since that day drunkenness has nearly ceased in that parish. Nor was the improvement evanescent; it has lasted two ...
— Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors • James Freeman Clarke
... should do as the French do, to which Jack Hobson assented, remarking that the French knew nothing about tea, and that a Frenchman's tea would be sure to prove an Englishman's poison. So we resolved to suspend the pledge during ...
— A Stable for Nightmares - or Weird Tales • J. Sheridan Le Fanu


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