mortgage

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mortgage /ˈmɔːgɪdʒ/

▶noun a legal agreement by which a bank, building society, etc. lends money at interest in exchange for taking title of the debtor's property, with the condition that the conveyance of title becomes void upon the payment of the debt.

■ the amount of money borrowed in a mortgage.

▶verb convey (a property) to a creditor as security on a loan.

– derivatives
mortgageable adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr., lit. ‘dead pledge’, from mort ‘dead’ + gage ‘pledge’.