Mort"gage (môr"g&asl;j; 48), n.
[F. mort-gage; mort dead (L. mortuus) +
gage pledge. See Mortal, and Gage.]
1. (Law) A conveyance of property, upon
condition, as security for the payment of a debt or the preformance
of a duty, and to become void upon payment or performance according
to the stipulated terms; also, the written instrument by which the
conveyance is made.
&fist; It was called a mortgage (or dead pledge)
because, whatever profit it might yield, it did not thereby redeem
itself, but became lost or dead to the mortgager upon breach
of the condition. But in equity a right of redemption is an
inseparable incident of a mortgage until the mortgager is debarred by
his own laches, or by judicial decree. Cowell.
Kent.
2. State of being pledged; as, lands given in
mortgage.
Chattel mortgage. See under
Chattel. -- To foreclose a mortgage.
See under Foreclose. -- Mortgage
deed (Law), a deed given by way of
mortgage.
Mort"gage, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Mortgaged (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Mortgaging (?).] 1. (Law) To grant
or convey, as property, for the security of a debt, or other
engagement, upon a condition that if the debt or engagement shall be
discharged according to the contract, the conveyance shall be void,
otherwise to become absolute, subject, however, to the right of
redemption.
2. Hence: To pledge, either literally or
figuratively; to make subject to a claim or obligation.
Mortgaging their lives to
covetise.
Spenser.
I myself an mortgaged to thy will.
Shak.
