INDENTURE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Indenture

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/ɪndˈɛntʃər/ Listen

noun

Indenture n.

The act of indenting, or state of being indented.

(Law) A mutual agreement in writing between two or more parties, whereof each party has usually a counterpart or duplicate, sometimes with the edges indented for purpose of identification; sometimes in the pl., a short form for indentures of apprenticeship, the contract by which a youth is bound apprentice to a master. "The law is the best expositor of the gospel; they are like a pair of indentures: they answer in every part." Note: Indentures were originally duplicates, laid together and indented by a notched cut or line, or else written on the same piece of parchment and separated by a notched line so that the two papers or parchments corresponded to each other. But indenting has gradually become a mere form, and is often neglected, while the writings or counterparts retain the name of indentures.

Hence: A contract by which anyone is bound to service.

verb

Indenture v. t. (past & past part. indentured; pres. part. indenturing)

To indent; to make hollows, notches, or wrinkles in; to furrow. "Though age may creep on, and indenture the brow."

To bind by indentures or written contract; as, to indenture an apprentice.

Indenture v. i. To run or wind in and out; to be cut or notched; to indent.

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Etymology of 'Indenture'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Indenture" Quotes from Famous Books

... This Indenture Wittnesseth, That I Margaret Burjust of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. Have placed, and by these presents do place and bind out my only Daughter whose name is Ann ...

— The Adventures of Ann - Stories of Colonial Times • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... develops in his endeavors to subserve them. Fire, the fourth element, as the old philosophers deemed it, is his most useful and abject servant. Why cannot man prevent his ever breaking that ancient indenture, old as Prometheus, old as Adam? Why can he not be certain that at any moment his terrible subject may not break forth and tower up into his master, tyrant, destroyer? It is because it also is a power of nature; which, in ultimate trial of forces, is always superior to man. It ...

— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike

... state of the kingdom, here am I ready to resign to you my estates, on condition that you second me in my efforts to regain the throne of my fathers." Comyn accepted the latter alternative, but immediately betrayed the design to Edward, and sent him the letter, or indenture, by which Bruce had bound himself. But the latter, when suddenly charged with it, denied his hand and seal with a coolness that could only belong to one long practised in the arts of dissimulation, and demanded time to prove his innocence. ...

— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 of 8 • Various

... feels in duty bound to inform you that, according to the laws of Indiana, a woman is of age at eighteen, and as no indenture could be made binding after you had reached your majority, you are the victim of a deception. You are free, and if it can be proven that you have been defrauded by a willful deception, a suit ...

— The Hoosier Schoolmaster - A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana • Edward Eggleston

... jealousy of the crew; but they both promised me that I should be rated as an officer as soon as a fair excuse offered itself for my promotion. The others present were all called round to witness me sign the indenture, after which, like a vain young fool, I must needs produce Mr. Walpole's guinea and order a fresh supply of liquor as far as it would go. This display of spirit, as they esteemed it, did my business with the crew, ...

— Athelstane Ford • Allen Upward

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