indenture
US/ɪnˈdɛn.ʃɝ/
indenture noun: a contract which binds a person to work for another, under specified conditions, for a specified time (often as an apprentice).
Noun
indenture (plural indentures)
- A contract which binds a person to work for another, under specified conditions, for a specified time (often as an apprentice).
- And so the schoolmistress reconciled the recommendation to her conscience, and the indentures were cancelled, and the apprentice was free.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter II, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
- A contract relating to lending (typically for issuing a bond), a real estate transaction, or a bankruptcy that imposes additional conditions on one or both parties.
- A document, written as duplicates separated by indentations, specifying either of the above contracts.
- Walking the street very hungry, and not knowing what to do with himself, a crimp's bill was put into his hand, offering immediate entertainment and encouragement to such as would bind themselves to serve in America. He went directly, sign'd the indentures, was put into the ship, and came over...1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868...
- It was the critical moment of Oliver’s fate. If the inkstand had been where the old gentleman thought it was, he would have dipped his pen into it, and signed the indentures, and Oliver would have been straightway hurried off.1837 March, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Relates How Oliver Twist Was Very Near Getting a Place, Which Would Not Have Been a Sinecure”, in Oliver Twist; […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley...
- An indentation; a recess.
- The narrow windows, flanked by deep indentures into the walls, seemed formed rather to exclude than to admit the cheerful light; and the heavy and gloomy appearance of the thunder-sky added still farther to the obscurity.1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter X, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for...
Verb
indenture (third-person singular simple present indentures, present participle indenturing, simple past and past participle indentured)
indenture meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
indenture in Tamil
- எழுத்து உடன்படிக்கை, எழுத்துவழி உடன்படிக்கை பத்திரம்
indenture in Urdu
- اقرار نامہ, معاہدہ
indenture in Bengali
- চুক্তিপত্র
indenture in Malayalam
- compact, contract, agreement
- ഉടമ്പടി, ഉടമ്പടിച്ചീട്ട്, നിയമപരമായകരാർ, എഴുതിപ്പിടിപ്പിച്ച ഉടമ്പടി, സമ്മച്ചീട്ട്, സമ്മക്കെെച്ചീട്ട്
Examples of indenture in a sentence
- He went directly, sign'd the indentures, was put into the ship, and came over, never writing a line to acquaint his friends what was become of him.1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia...
- If it had not been for the indentures lying serenely in that tall wooden desk, she would almost have forgotten, herself, that she was a bound girl.1886, Mary E. Wilkins, The Adventures of Ann:
Forms of indenture
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | indentures |
| alternative form (obsolete) | endenture |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | indentures |
| present participle | indenturing |
| past participle | indentured |
| past | indentured |
Origin of indenture
From Anglo-Norman endenture, from Old French endenteure, from endenter (“to dent”). The name of the contract derives from the irregular dent-shaped cut (indentation) used to prove the authenticity of the two parts, similar to a chirograph.
Words formed from indenture
Questions about indenture
- What does indenture mean?
- Indenture means a contract which binds a person to work for another, under specified conditions, for a specified time (often as an apprentice).
- What is indenture in Tamil?
- Indenture in Tamil is எழுத்து உடன்படிக்கை, எழுத்துவழி உடன்படிக்கை பத்திரம். See Indenture meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use indenture in a sentence?
- He went directly, sign'd the indentures, was put into the ship, and came over, never writing a line to acquaint his friends what was become of him.
- What part of speech is indenture?
- Indenture can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce indenture?
- Indenture is pronounced /ɪnˈdɛn.ʃɝ/ (US).
- What is the plural of indenture?
- The plural of indenture is indentures.
Words near indenture in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: indenture (page history and authors); indenture (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); indenture (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Indenture (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); indenture (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Grendelkhan-indenture.wav.
Cite this entry: “indenture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/indenture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.