INDENTURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does indenture mean? 

• INDENTURE (noun)
  The noun INDENTURE has 4 senses:

1. a concave cut into a surface or edge (as in a coastline)

2. formal agreement between the issuer of bonds and the bondholders as to terms of the debt

3. a contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term

4. the space left between the margin and the start of an indented line

  Familiarity information: INDENTURE used as a noun is uncommon.

• INDENTURE (verb)
  The verb INDENTURE has 1 sense:

1. bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant

  Familiarity information: INDENTURE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDENTURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A concave cut into a surface or edge (as in a coastline)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

indentation; indenture

Hypernyms ("indenture" is a kind of...):

concave shape; concavity; incurvation; incurvature (a shape that curves or bends inward)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "indenture"):

notch (a V-shaped or U-shaped indentation carved or scratched into a surface)

notch (a V-shaped indentation)

cleft (a split or indentation in something (as the palate or chin))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Formal agreement between the issuer of bonds and the bondholders as to terms of the debt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("indenture" is a kind of...):

written agreement (a legal document summarizing the agreement between parties)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("indenture" is a kind of...):

contract (a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law)

Derivation:

indent; indenture (bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The space left between the margin and the start of an indented line

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

indent; indentation; indention; indenture

Hypernyms ("indenture" is a kind of...):

blank space; place; space (a blank area)

• INDENTURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they indenture    ... he / she / it indentures   
Past simple: indentured   
Past participle: indentured   
-ing form: indenturing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

indent; indenture

Context example:

an indentured servant

Hypernyms (to "indenture" is one way to...):

bind; hold; obligate; oblige (bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

indenture (a contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term)

 Context examples 

The house and grounds, and furniture, were approved, the Crofts were approved, terms, time, every thing, and every body, was right; and Mr Shepherd's clerks were set to work, without there having been a single preliminary difference to modify of all that This indenture sheweth.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)