indenture

Meanings

1. A contract which binds a person to work for another, under specified conditions, for a specified time (often as an apprentice).
2. A contract relating to lending (typically for issuing a bond), a real estate transaction, or a bankruptcy that imposes additional conditions on one or both parties.
3. A document, written as duplicates separated by indentations, specifying either of the above contracts.
4. An indentation; a recess.

1. To bind a person under such a contract.
2. To indent; to make hollows, notches, or wrinkles in; to furrow.

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman endenture, from Old French endenteure, from endenter (“to dent”). The name of the contract derives from the irregular dent-shaped cut (indentation) used to prove the authenticity of the two parts, similar to a chirograph.