pawn
Other forms: pawns; pawned; pawning
To pawn something is to use it as collateral when you're borrowing money. When you pawn a necklace at a pawn shop, you get cash in exchange for it with the understanding that you can buy it back later.
The benefit when you pawn something is getting cash immediately. The down side is that you'll have to pay more money — the amount you borrowed, plus interest — to get your item back. If you aren't able to do this, the pawn shop will sell it to someone else. As a noun, a pawn is the smallest, least powerful piece in a game of chess, or a description of a person who's being used or manipulated.
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leave as a guarantee in return for money
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an article deposited as securitytype of:pledgea deposit of personal property as security for a debt
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borrowing and leaving an article as security for repayment of the loantype of:borrowingobtaining funds from a lender
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a person used by another to gain an end
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(chess) the least powerful piece; moves only forward and captures only to the side; it can be promoted to a more powerful piece if it reaches the 8th rank
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palmed off / pawned off
Vocabulary lists containing pawn
Widely recognized as one of the greatest and most difficult board games in the world, chess originated in India in the 6th century C.E., spreading into Persia and the Muslim world — undergoing rule changes over the course of many centuries — before arriving in Europe and beyond. Learn this list and become a vocabulary grandmaster!
After receiving calls from Death-Cast informing them that they have less than 24 hours to live, strangers Mateo and Rufus connect through an app called Last Friend.
In the last book of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss struggles to be more than just a pawn in the fight for the future of Panem.