hypothec
English
Etymology
From Latin hypothēca (“pledge, mortgage”), from Ancient Greek ὑποθήκη (hupothḗkē, “warning, pledge”).
Noun
hypothec (usually uncountable, plural hypothecs)
- (law) In Scotland, a landlord's right over the stocking (cattle, implements, etc.), and crops of his tenant, as security for payment of rent.
- (colloquial) Everything; the whole lot.
- ...saddle and all, the whole hypothec turned round and grovelled in the dust below the donkey’s belly.
Related terms
- hypothecate
References
- Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879) by Robert Louis Stevenson