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pledge

[plej]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something: a pledge of aid; a pledge not to wage war.

something delivered as security for the payment of a debt or fulfillment of a promise, and subject to forfeiture on failure to pay or fulfill the promise.

the state of being given or held as security: to put a thing in pledge.

Law.

the act of delivering goods, property, etc., to another for security.

the resulting legal relationship.

something given or regarded as a security.

EXPAND

a person accepted for membership in a club, fraternity, or sorority, but not yet formally approved.

an assurance of support or goodwill conveyed by drinking a person's health; a toast.

Obsolete.

a hostage.

a person who becomes bail or surety for another.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

to bind by or as if by a pledge: to pledge hearers to secrecy.

10.

to promise solemnly: to pledge one's support.

11.

to give or deposit as a pledge; pawn.

12.

to stake, as one's honor.

13.

to secure by a pledge; give a pledge for.

EXPAND

14.

to accept as a pledge for club, fraternity, or sorority membership.

15.

to drink a health or toast to.

COLLAPSE

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Pledge is always a great word to know.

So is malpractice. Does it mean:

failure of a professional person, as a physician or lawyer, to render proper services through reprehensible ignorance or negligence

damages awarded to a plaintiff in excess of compensatory damages in order to punish the defendant for a reckless or willful act

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

16.

to make or give a pledge: to pledge for someone.

17.

to drink a pledge; toast someone's health, success, etc.

Idiom

18.

take the pledge, to make a solemn, formal vow to abstain from intoxicating drink.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English plege < Anglo-French < early Medieval Latin plevium, plebium, derivative of plebīre to pledge < Germanic; compare Old English plēon to risk, German pflegen to look after. See plight²

Related forms

pledge·a·ble, adjective

pledg·er, noun

pledge·less, adjective

in·ter·pledge, verb (used with object), -pledged, -pledg·ing.

pre·pledge, verb (used with object), -pledged, -pledg·ing; noun

EXPAND

qua·si-pledge, verb, -pledged, -pledg·ing.

re·pledge, verb (used with object), -pledged, -pledg·ing, noun

un·pledged, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
2. warranty, surety, guaranty.

Link To pledge

Example Sentences

Some 4000 scientists signed the pledge.

He will pay $5-million of the pledge, and his name will remain on two halls and an auditorium.

But Chris finds out anyway, and continues to pledge his love for her.

EXPAND

Collins

World English Dictionary

pledge (plɛdʒ)

—n
1.	a formal or solemn promise or agreement, esp to do or refrain from doing something
2.	a. collateral for the payment of a debt or the performance of an obligation
	b. the condition of being collateral (esp in the phrase in pledge)
3.	a sign, token, or indication: the gift is a pledge of their sincerity
4.	an assurance of support or goodwill, conveyed by drinking to a person, cause, etc; toast: we drank a pledge to their success
5.	a person who binds himself, as by becoming bail or surety for another
6.	sign the pledge, take the pledge to make a vow to abstain from alcoholic drink

—vb
7.	to promise formally or solemnly: he pledged allegiance
8.	(tr) to bind or secure by or as if by a pledge: they were pledged to secrecy
9.	to give, deposit, or offer (one's word, freedom, property, etc) as a guarantee, as for the repayment of a loan
10.	to drink a toast to (a person, cause, etc)

[C14: from Old French plege, from Late Latin plebium gage, security, from plebīre to pledge, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German pflegan to look after, care for]

'pledgable

—*adj*

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

pledge

mid-14c., "surety, bail," from O.Fr. plege (Fr. pleige) "hostage, security, bail," probably from Frank. *plegan "to guarantee," from a W.Gmc. root meaning "have responsibility for" (cf. O.Saxon plegan "vouch for," O.H.G. pflegan "to care for, be accustomed to," O.E. pleon "to risk, expose to danger").

EXPAND

Meaning "allegiance vow attested by drinking with another" is from 1630s. Sense of "solemn promise" first recorded 1814, though this meaning is from c.1400 in the verb. Weekley notes the "curious contradiction" in pledge "to toast with a drink" (1540s) and pledge "the vow to abstain from drinking" (1833). Noun meaning "student who has agreed to join a fraternity or sorority" dates from 1901.

COLLAPSE

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Pledge definition

See LOAN.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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