underwrites

Verb

underwrite (third-person singular simple present underwrites, present participle underwriting, simple past underwrote or (archaic) underwrit, past participle underwritten or (archaic) underwrit)

1. (transitive) To write below or under; subscribe.
2. (intransitive, obsolete, transitive) To subscribe (a document, policy etc.) with one's name.
3. (transitive) To sign; to put one's name to.
4. (transitive) To agree to pay by signing one's name; subscribe.
5. (transitive) Specifically, to assume financial responsibility for something, and guarantee it against failure.
   • Dr. Beeching's obvious intent is that if Scottish—and similarly unprofitable English and Welsh—railways are to be maintained, it must be done by an unconcealed subsidy; he is determined that the railways shall no longer be preoccupied with—and derided for—immense deficits which include the burden...1962 October, “Talking of Trains: Passed to you, Mr. Macmillan”, in Modern Railways, page 220
6. (intransitive) To act as an underwriter.
   • The broker who procures the insurance […]ought not, by underwriting the policy, to deprive the parties of his unbiased testimony.1810, Samuel Marshall, Of marine insurance

See all 8 meanings of underwrite