indenture

[in-den-cher]

noun

1. a deed or agreement executed in two or more copies with edges correspondingly indented as a means of identification.

2. any deed, written contract, or sealed agreement.

3. a contract by which a person, as an apprentice, is bound to service.

4. any official or formal list, certificate, etc., authenticated for use as a voucher or the like.

5. the formal agreement between a group of bondholders and the debtor as to the terms of the debt.

6. indentation.

verb (used with object)

indentured, indenturing 

1. to bind by indenture, as an apprentice.

2. Archaic.,  to make a depression in; wrinkle; furrow.

indenture

/ ɪnˈdɛntʃə /

noun

1. any deed, contract, or sealed agreement between two or more parties

2. (formerly) a deed drawn up in duplicate, each part having correspondingly indented edges for identification and security

3. (often plural) a contract between an apprentice and his master

4. a formal or official list or certificate authenticated for use as a voucher, etc

5. a less common word for indentation

verb

1. (intr) to enter into an agreement by indenture

2. (tr) to bind (an apprentice, servant, etc) by indenture

3. obsolete,  (tr) to indent or wrinkle

Other Word Forms

• indentureship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of indenture¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; a Middle English word from the Medieval Latin word indentūra; indent ¹, -ure

Example Sentences

Describing himself as a kind of indentured servant, he said he’d been “forced to work in a criminal enterprise, and if he didn’t, he would be killed,” Starr testified.

From Los Angeles Times

The reparations legislation that has failed to advance includes a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have banned prisons from requiring inmates to work, which some consider state-sanctioned slavery or indentured servitude.

From Los Angeles Times

Bobo, her parents and the other white settlers benefit from an unjust system, always presented matter-of-factly, as the adults relish their domestic bliss at the expense of the indentured locals.

From Los Angeles Times

Here, the unsuspecting humans are a bunch of poor kids who steal a hauler with a plan of looting a deserted spaceship and fleeing their indenture.

From Salon

But when she gets kidnapped to work as an indentured servant at the Imperial Palace, she starts making a name for herself with her scientific know-how and talents at deduction.

From Salon