pledge /plɛdʒ/ n
- a formal or solemn promise or agreement, esp to do or refrain from doing something
- collateral for the payment of a debt or the performance of an obligation
- the condition of being collateral (esp in the phrase in pledge)
- a sign, token, or indication: the gift is a pledge of their sincerity
- an assurance of support or goodwill, conveyed by drinking to a person, cause, etc; toast: we drank a pledge to their success
- a person who binds himself, as by becoming bail or surety for another
- sign the pledge, take the pledge ⇒ to make a vow to abstain from alcoholic drink
- to promise formally or solemnly
- (transitive) to bind or secure by or as if by a pledge: they were pledged to secrecy
- to give, deposit, or offer (one's word, freedom, property, etc) as a guarantee, as for the repayment of a loan
- to drink a toast to (a person, cause, etc)
