Pledge n.
 1. Law The transfer of possession of personal property from a debtor to a creditor as security for a debt or engagement; also, the contract created between the debtor and creditor by a thing being so delivered or deposited, forming a species of bailment; also, that which is so delivered or deposited; something put in pawn.
 Note: ☞ Pledge is ordinarily confined to personal property; the title or ownership does not pass by it; possession is essential to it. In all these points it differs from a mortgage [see Mortgage]; and in the last, from the hypotheca of the Roman law. See Hypotheca.
 2. Old Eng. Law A person who undertook, or became responsible, for another; a bail; a surety; a hostage. “I am Grumio's pledge.”
 3. A hypothecation without transfer of possession.
 4. Anything given or considered as a security for the performance of an act; a guarantee; as, mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties. “That voice, their liveliest pledge of hope.”
 5. A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing, something; especially, a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or the like; as, to sign the pledge; the mayor had made no pledges.
 6. A sentiment to which assent is given by drinking one's health; a toast; a health.
 Dead pledge. [A translation of LL. mortuum vadium.] Law A mortgage. See Mortgage.
 Living pledge. [A translation of LL. vivum vadium.] Law The conveyance of an estate to another for money borrowed, to be held by him until the debt is paid out of the rents and profits.
 To hold in pledge, to keep as security.
 To put in pledge, to pawn; to give as security.
 Syn: -- See Earnest.


 Dead a.
 1. Deprived of life; -- opposed to alive and living; reduced to that state of a being in which the organs of motion and life have irrevocably ceased to perform their functions; as, a dead tree; a dead man. “The queen, my lord, is dead.”
    The crew, all except himself, were dead of hunger.   --Arbuthnot.
    Seek him with candle, bring him dead or living.   --Shak.
 2. Destitute of life; inanimate; as, dead matter.
 3. Resembling death in appearance or quality; without show of life; deathlike; as, a dead sleep.
 4. Still as death; motionless; inactive; useless; as, dead calm; a dead load or weight.
 5. So constructed as not to transmit sound; soundless; as, a dead floor.
 6. Unproductive; bringing no gain; unprofitable; as, dead capital; dead stock in trade.
 7. Lacking spirit; dull; lusterless; cheerless; as, dead eye; dead fire; dead color, etc.
 8. Monotonous or unvaried; as, a dead level or pain; a dead wall. “The ground is a dead flat.”
 9. Sure as death; unerring; fixed; complete; as, a dead shot; a dead certainty.
    I had them a dead bargain.   --Goldsmith.
 10. Bringing death; deadly.
 11. Wanting in religious spirit and vitality; as, dead faith; dead works. “Dead in trespasses.”
 12. Paint. (a) Flat; without gloss; -- said of painting which has been applied purposely to have this effect. (b) Not brilliant; not rich; thus, brown is a dead color, as compared with crimson.
 13. Law Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property; as, one banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead.
 14. Mach. Not imparting motion or power; as, the dead spindle of a lathe, etc.  See Spindle.
 15. Elec. Carrying no current, or producing no useful effect; -- said of a conductor in a dynamo or motor, also of a telegraph wire which has no instrument attached and, therefore, is not in use.
 16.  Out of play; regarded as out of the game; -- said of a ball, a piece, or a player under certain conditions in cricket, baseball, checkers, and some other games.
    [In golf], a ball is said to lie dead when it lies so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.    --Encyc. of Sport.
 Dead ahead Naut., directly ahead; -- said of a ship or any object, esp. of the wind when blowing from that point toward which a vessel would go.
 Dead angle Mil., an angle or space which can not be seen or defended from behind the parapet.
 Dead block, either of two wooden or iron blocks intended to serve instead of buffers at the end of a freight car.
 Dead calm Naut., no wind at all.
 Dead center, or Dead point Mach., either of two points in the orbit of a crank, at which the crank and connecting rod lie a straight line. It corresponds to the end of a stroke; as, A and B are dead centers of the crank mechanism in which the crank C drives, or is driven by, the lever L.
 Dead color Paint., a color which has no gloss upon it.
 Dead coloring Oil paint., the layer of colors, the preparation for what is to follow. In modern painting this is usually in monochrome.
 Dead door Shipbuilding, a storm shutter fitted to the outside of the quarter-gallery door.
 Dead flat Naut., the widest or midship frame.
 Dead freight Mar. Law, a sum of money paid by a person who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full cargo. The payment is made for the unoccupied capacity. --Abbott.
 Dead ground Mining, the portion of a vein in which there is no ore.
 Dead hand, a hand that can not alienate, as of a person civilly dead. “Serfs held in dead hand.” --Morley. See Mortmain.
 Dead head Naut., a rough block of wood used as an anchor buoy.
 Dead heat, a heat or course between two or more race horses, boats, etc., in which they come out exactly equal, so that neither wins.
 Dead horse, an expression applied to a debt for wages paid in advance. [Law]
 Dead language, a language which is no longer spoken or in common use by a people, and is known only in writings, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
 Dead letter. (a) A letter which, after lying for a certain fixed time uncalled for at the post office to which it was directed, is then sent to the general post office to be opened. (b) That which has lost its force or authority; as, the law has become a dead letter.
 Dead-letter office, a department of the general post office where dead letters are examined and disposed of.
 Dead level, a term applied to a flat country.
 Dead lift, (a) a direct lift, without assistance from mechanical advantage, as from levers, pulleys, etc.; hence, an extreme emergency. “(As we say) at a dead lift.” --Robynson (More's Utopia). (b) Weighlifting The lifting of a weight from the ground, without raising it to the shoulders.
 Dead line Mil., a line drawn within or around a military prison, to cross which involves for a prisoner the penalty of being instantly shot.
 Dead load Civil Engin., a constant, motionless load, as the weight of a structure, in distinction from a moving load, as a train of cars, or a variable pressure, as of wind.
 Dead march Mus., a piece of solemn music intended to be played as an accompaniment to a funeral procession.
 Dead nettle Bot., a harmless plant with leaves like a nettle (Lamium album).
 Dead oil Chem., the heavy oil obtained in the distillation of coal tar, and containing phenol, naphthalus, etc.
 Dead plate Mach., a solid covering over a part of a fire grate, to prevent the entrance of air through that part.
 Dead pledge, a mortgage. See Mortgage.
 Dead point. Mach. See Dead center.
 Dead reckoning Naut., the method of determining the place of a ship from a record kept of the courses sailed as given by compass, and the distance made on each course as found by log, with allowance for leeway, etc., without the aid of celestial observations.
 Dead rise, the transverse upward curvature of a vessel's floor.
 Dead rising, an elliptical line drawn on the sheer plan to determine the sweep of the floorheads throughout the ship's length.
 Dead-Sea apple. See under Apple.
 Dead set. See under Set.
 Dead shot. (a) An unerring marksman. (b) A shot certain to be made.
 Dead smooth, the finest cut made; -- said of files.
 Dead wall Arch., a blank wall unbroken by windows or other openings.
 Dead water Naut., the eddy water closing in under a ship's stern when sailing.
 Dead weight. (a) A heavy or oppressive burden. --Dryden. (b) Shipping A ship's lading, when it consists of heavy goods; or, the heaviest part of a ship's cargo. (c) Railroad The weight of rolling stock, the live weight being the load. --Knight.
 Dead wind Naut., a wind directly ahead, or opposed to the ship's course.
 To be dead, to die. [Obs.]
    I deme thee, thou must algate be dead.   --Chaucer.
 Syn: -- Inanimate; deceased; extinct. See Lifeless.