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surety. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
surety, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
surety in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
surety you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English surete, attested since the early 1300s in the sense "guarantee, promise, pledge, assurance", from Anglo-Norman seurté/Old French seurté with the same meaning (whence modern French sûreté), from Latin sēcūritās. Equivalent to sure + -ty. The senses "security, safety, stability" and "certainy" are attested since the late 1300s. "One who undertakes to pay if another does not" is from the early 1400s. Doublet of security.
Pronunciation
Noun
surety (countable and uncountable, plural sureties)
- Certainty.
a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:For the more surety they looked round about.
- That which makes sure; that which confirms; ground of confidence or security.
1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:[We] our happy state
Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;
On other surety none.
- (law) A promise to pay a sum of money in the event that another person fails to fulfill an obligation.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :There remains unpaid
A hundred thousand more; in surety of the which
One part of Aquitaine is bound to us.
- (law) One who undertakes to pay money or perform other acts in the event that his principal fails therein.
- Synonym: suretor
2024 March 20, “New York attorney general could soon move to seize Trump’s property”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:Trump’s lawyers said two days ago that to post a bond covering the full amount of the $454m civil fraud judgment against him while he appeals was “a practical impossibility” after 30 surety companies turned him down.
- A substitute; a hostage.
1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: J Johnson, , →OCLC:...It happen’d on a solemn eventide,
Soon after He that was our surety died,
Two bosom friends, each pensively inclined,
The scene of all those sorrows left behind,
Sought their own village, busied as they went
In musings worthy of the great event:
They spake of Him they loved, of Him whose life,
Though blameless, had incurr’d perpetual strife,
Whose deeds had left, in spite of hostile arts,
A deep memorial graven on their hearts...
- Evidence; confirmation; warrant.
c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :She called the saints to surety,
That she would never put it from her finger,
Unless she gave it to yourself.
Derived terms
Translations
law: promise to pay on behalf of another
law: one who undertakes such promise
See also
Anagrams