Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that lends money at interest in exchange for personal property deposited as security.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who is licensed to lend money on pledge or the deposit of goods at a legally fixed rate of interest.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who makes a business of lending money on the security of personal property pledged or deposited in his keeping.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person who makes monetary loans at interest, taking personal property as security – which may be sold if not redeemed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who lends money at interest in exchange for personal property that is deposited as security

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • The first, whether from a friend or from a pawnbroker, is extremely distasteful; the second provides, for some people, a certain masochistic kick; the third is definitely enjoyable, but can seldom be done in a hurry.

    Try Anything Twice 1938

  • And the sneering that accompanies every use of the word pawnbroker is palpable.

    Beachwood Reporter Lou 2010

  • The pawnbroker was a gentleman of Jewish persuasion, and possessed a nose like the beak of an eagle.

    My Life: or the Adventures of Geo. Thompson Being the Auto-Biography of an Author. Written by Himself. George Thompson

  • I come hup jest when the perleeceman and the pawnbroker were a-gripping yer.

    Sue, A Little Heroine L. T. Meade 1884

  • The safekeeping of property given to the pawnbroker is the pawnbroker's responsibility;

    Persfin 2010

  • The safekeeping of property given to the pawnbroker is the pawnbroker's responsibility;

    Persfin 2010

  • In less than a week, Cohen went from being a no-name pawnbroker running for state office to winning the Democratic lieutenant governor primary to defending himself from serious accusations of domestic battery.

    News 2010

  • His first thought was that Lady Mallinger, who had a strictly Protestant taste for such Catholic spoils, might like to have these missal-clasps turned into a bracelet: then his eyes traveled over the other contents of the window, and he saw that the shop was that kind of pawnbroker's where the lead is given to jewelry, lace and all equivocal objects introduced as _bric-à - brac_.

    Daniel Deronda George Eliot 1849

  • Mo's ultimate destination is the home of his girlfriend Jill (Stacey Travis), but first he visits Alvy (Mark Northover), a kind of pawnbroker to whom Mo wants to sell various odds and ends "borrowed" from work.

    Home Theater Forum 2010

  • While the typical cost of paying off a £100 loan over 12 months was £112 if taken from a credit union, this rose to £142 for a pawnbroker and £173 for a rent-to-own loan.

    Poorer families 'paying double by renting household goods' 2011

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