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pawn

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pawn

1   [pawn]
verb (used with object)
1.
to deposit as security, as for money borrowed, especially with a pawnbroker: He raised the money by pawning his watch.
2.
to pledge; stake; risk: to pawn one's life.
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noun
3.
the state of being deposited or held as security, especially with or by a pawnbroker: jewels in pawn.
4.
something given or deposited as security, as for money borrowed.
5.
a person serving as security; hostage.
6.
the act of pawning.

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to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.
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Origin:
1490–1500; (noun) < Middle French pan; Old French pan(d), pant, apparently < West Germanic; compare Old Frisian pand, Old Saxon, Middle Dutch pant, German Pfand; (v.) derivative of the noun

Related forms
pawn·a·ble, adjective
pawn·er  [paw-ner] , paw·nor  [paw-ner, -nawr] , noun
un·pawned, adjective

Synonyms
4. pledge.

Example Sentences
  • Public education is a pawn of politics from the local level to the national level.
  • Even that staple of the urban poor, the pawn shop, is being reinvented.
  • But as if his body wasn't enough, they take over his brain tooand he becomes the pawn and protector of his own murderers.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

pawn

2   [pawn]
noun
1.
Chess. one of eight men of one color and of the lowest value, usually moved one square at a time vertically and capturing diagonally.
2.
someone who is used or manipulated to further another person's purposes.
Origin:
1325–75; Middle English poun < Anglo-French, equivalent to Middle French poon, variant of paon, earlier pe(h)on literally, walker; see peon1

Synonyms
2. puppet, tool, dupe.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To pawn
Collins
World English Dictionary
pawn1 (pɔːn)
 
—vb
1.  to deposit (an article) as security for the repayment of a loan, esp from a pawnbroker
2.  to stake: to pawn one's honour
 
—n
3.  an article deposited as security
4.  the condition of being so deposited (esp in the phrase in pawn)
5.  a person or thing that is held as a security, esp a hostage
6.  the act of pawning
 
[C15: from Old French pan security, from Latin pannus cloth, apparently because clothing was often left as a surety; compare Middle Flemish paen pawn, German Pfand pledge]
 
'pawnage1
 
—n

pawn2 (pɔːn)
 
—n
1.  Compare piece P a chessman of the lowest theoretical value, limited to forward moves of one square at a time with the option of two squares on its initial move: it captures with a diagonal move only
2.  a person, group, etc, manipulated by another
 
[C14: from Anglo-Norman poun, from Old French pehon, from Medieval Latin pedō infantryman, from Latin pēs foot]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pawn
"something left as security," 1496 (c.1145 as Anglo-L. pandum), from O.Fr. pan, pant "pledge, security," also "booty, plunder," perhaps from Frank. (cf. O.H.G. pfant, Ger. Pfand, M.Du. pant, O.Fris. pand "pledge"), from W.Gmc. *panda, of unknown origin. The O.Fr. word is identical to pan "cloth, piece
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of cloth," from L. pannem (nom. pannus) "piece of cloth," and some feel this is the source of both the O.Fr. and W.Gmc. words (perhaps on the notion of cloth used as a medium of exchange). The verb is first attested 1567, from the noun. Pawnbroker is from 1687; pawn-shop is from 1849.

pawn
"lowly chess piece," 1369, from Anglo-Fr. poun, O.Fr. peon, earlier pehon, from M.L. pedonem "foot soldier," from L.L. pedonem (nom. pedo) "one going on foot," from L. pes (gen. pedis) "foot" (see foot). The chess sense was in O.Fr. by 13c. Fig. use, of persons, is from 1589.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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