In·den·ture n.
 1. The act of indenting, or state of being indented.
 2. Law A mutual agreement in writing between two or more parties, whereof each party has usually a counterpart or duplicate, sometimes with the edges indented for purpose of identification; sometimes in the pl., a short form for indentures of apprenticeship, the contract by which a youth is bound apprentice to a master.
    The law is the best expositor of the gospel; they are like a pair of indentures: they answer in every part.   --C. Leslie.
 Note: ☞ Indentures were originally duplicates, laid together and indented by a notched cut or line, or else written on the same piece of parchment and separated by a notched line so that the two papers or parchments corresponded to each other. But indenting has gradually become a mere form, and is often neglected, while the writings or counterparts retain the name of indentures.