mont-de-piété

[ mawnduh-pyey-tey ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, French.

, plural monts-de-pié·té [maw, n, d, uh, -pyey-, tey].

a public pawnbroking establishment that lends money on reasonable terms, especially to people with low incomes.

mont-de-piété

/ mɔ̃dpjete /

First recorded in 1840–45; from French: literally “bank of pity,” from Italian monte di pietà

from Italian monte di pietà bank of pity

These chests were a kind of Mont de Piété, and to found them was at first the favourite form of benefaction.

The Mont-de-Piété usually does a very good business, and there will always be enough misery in Paris for it to grow rich upon.

One thing, which is less impossible, is to indemnify the administration of the Mont-de-Piété for this gratuitous restitution.

She rummaged among a mass of letters, of bundles of receipts and Mont-de-Piété vouchers.

Mme Coupeau, who had once been housekeeper for an actress, was the first to speak of the Mont-de-Piété.

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