bankrupt

English

Etymology

Partial calque of Italian banca rotta, which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken. When a moneylender in Northern Italy became insolvent, they would break the bench they worked from to signify that they were no longer in business. (Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiano 1907)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbæŋ.kɹəpt/, /ˈbæŋ.kɹʌpt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/, /ˈbæŋk.ɹʌpt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋkɹəpt, -æŋkɹʌpt

Adjective

bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)

1. (finance) In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay one's debts.

   a bankrupt merchant

   • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, page 141:

     "How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked.
     "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly."

2. Having been legally declared insolvent.
3. Destitute of, or wholly lacking (something once possessed, or something one should possess).

   a morally bankrupt politician

   • 1715, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals:

     bankrupt in gratitude

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:impoverished

Derived terms

• bankrupt cart
• bankrupt worm
• bankruptcy
• go bankrupt
• morally bankrupt

Translations

See also

• defunct
• illiquid
• insolvent

Verb

bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)

1. (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.

Translations

Noun

bankrupt (plural bankrupts)

1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person.
2. (UK, law, obsolete) A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.

Translations

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Bankrupt”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
• “bankrupt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.