Noun: pawn
Sample Sentences
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All our jewellery was in pawn by this stage.
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Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown. [1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:]
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As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […] [1624, John Donne, “19. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 508:]
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My life I never held but as a pawn / To wage against thy enemies. [c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:]
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Brokers, takers of pawns, biting userers, I will not admit; yet […] I will tolerate some kind of usery. [1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:]
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As for mortgaging or pawning,[…]men will not take pawns without use [i.e. interest]. [1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Usury”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:]
Nouns inflected like pawn
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English paun, pawyn, pawnd, from Old French pan, pant (“pledge for a payment”), from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *pand (“deposit, security, pledge”), further origin uncertain. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pound (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), West Frisian pân (“pawn”), Dutch pand (“pledge, pawn”), German Low German Pand (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), German Pfand (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), Swedish pant (“pledge, pawn”), Faroese pantur (“security, lien”), Icelandic pantur (“pledge, security, pawn”). See: Dutch Nouns '
pand', German Nouns '
Pfand', Swedish Nouns '
pant', Faroese Nouns '
pantur', Icelandic Nouns '
pantur'.