REDEEM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Redeem

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/rɪdˈim/ Listen

verb

Redeem v. t. (past & past part. redeemed; pres. part. redeeming)

1.

To purchase back; to regain possession of by payment of a stipulated price; to repurchase. "If a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold."

2.

Hence, specifically:

(a)

(Law) To recall, as an estate, or to regain, as mortgaged property, by paying what may be due by force of the mortgage.

(b)

(Com.) To regain by performing the obligation or condition stated; to discharge the obligation mentioned in, as a promissory note, bond, or other evidence of debt; as, to redeem bank notes with coin.

3.

To ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and the like. "Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles." "The Almighty from the grave Hath me redeemed."

4.

(Theol.) Hence, to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

5.

To make good by performing fully; to fulfill; as, to redeem one's promises. "I will redeem all this on Percy's head."

6.

To pay the penalty of; to make amends for; to serve as an equivalent or offset for; to atone for; to compensate; as, to redeem an error. "Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem Man's mortal crime?" "It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows."

To redeem the time, to make the best use of it.

See images of 'Redeem'

Etymology of 'Redeem'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Redeem" Quotes from Famous Books

... has yet seen. The people, too, will repose such a confidence in the banks as they have never done before. We shall hear little hereafter of 'runs upon the banks;' for the currency holders, well knowing that the Government holds in its hands the wherewithal to redeem the greater portion of the circulation of every bank in the land in the event of the closing of its doors, the only 'runs' will be upon the deposits, and this only in cases of the grossest and most patent fraud and mismanagement on the part of the banks themselves. Hence, in times of financial ...

— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... Kriemhild be your friend, nor have you and Hagen deserved otherwise. Stay here, ye knights, else ye may rue it. Ye shall find in the end that my counsel is not bad: wherefore heed my words. Rich are your lands. Here you can redeem your pledges better than among the Huns. Who knoweth how things stand there. Abide where ye are. That is ...

— The Fall of the Niebelungs • Unknown

... Government to meet the consequences of their indulgences, but affording at the same time facilities for remittance and exchange; and by steadily declining to employ as general depositories of the public revenues, or receive the notes of, all banks which refused to redeem them with specie—by these measures, aided by the favorable action of some of the banks and by the support and cooperation of a large portion of the community, we have witnessed an early resumption ...

— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 3: Martin Van Buren • James D. Richardson

... of a place of distinction cannot save a fool from the reputation of folly, position in a sentence cannot redeem empty words from their truly insipid character. Indeed, as the imbecility of a shallow pate is made all the more apparent by a position of distinction, so is the utter unfitness of certain words for their position painfully manifest. This is the secret of anti-climax. By reason of its very ...

— English: Composition and Literature • W. F. (William Franklin) Webster

... Madam, however; one word more [approaching me, his arms still folded, as if, I thought, he would not be tempted to mischief]. Remember only, that I come at your appointment, to redeem you, at the hazard of my life, from your gaolers and persecutors, with a resolution, God is my witness, or may he for ever blast me! [that was his shocking imprecation] to be a father, uncle, brother, ...

— Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson

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