EARNEST MONEY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Earnest money

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/ˈərnɪst mˈəni/ Listen

noun

Earnest n.

Something given, or a part paid beforehand, as a pledge; pledge; handsel; a token of what is to come. "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." "And from his coffers Received the golden earnest of our death."

(Law) Something of value given by the buyer to the seller, by way of token or pledge, to bind the bargain and prove the sale.

Earnest money (Law), money paid as earnest, to bind a bargain or to ratify and prove a sale.

Synonyms: Earnest, Pledge. These words are here compared as used in their figurative sense. Earnest is not so strong as pledge. An earnest, like first fruits, gives assurance, or at least a high probability, that more is coming of the same kind; a pledge, like money deposited, affords security and ground of reliance for the future. Washington gave earnest of his talent as commander by saving his troops after Braddock's defeat; his fortitude and that of his soldiers during the winter at Valley Forge might rightly be considered a pledge of their ultimate triumph.

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Etymology of 'Earnest money'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Earnest money" Quotes from Famous Books

... purpose which it is intended to subserve, divides credit into production-credit (investment of loans in immoveable property and in moveable property engaged in industrial operations), consumption-credit and clearing-credit, or loans made to pay respited purchase and earnest money, inheritances etc. (Kapitalismus ...

— Principles Of Political Economy • William Roscher

... Europe. It is one of the hundred out-stations which supplied the main depots, Boma and Porto da Lenha. Small parties went out at certain seasons provided with rum, gunpowder, and a little cloth; and either bought the "chattels" or paid earnest money, promising to settle the whole debt at their villages. Gidi Mavunga, like most of the elders, was perfectly acquainted with the routes to Nsundi, S. Salvador, and other frontier places, where the bush people brought down their criminals and ...

— Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton