v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hypothecated p. pr. & vb. n. Hypothecating ] [ LL. hypothecatus, p. p. of hypothecare to pledge, fr. L. hypotheca pledge, security. See Hypotheca. ] (Law) To subject, as property, to liability for a debt or engagement without delivery of possession or transfer of title; to pledge without delivery of possession; to mortgage, as ships, or other personal property; to make a contract by bottomry. See Hypothecation, Bottomry. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had found the treasury empty and the pay of the navy in arrear. He had no power to hypothecate any part of the public revenue. Those who lent him money lent it on no security but his bare word. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. hypothecatio. ] 1. (Civ. Law) The act or contract by which property is hypothecated; a right which a creditor has in or to the property of his debtor, in virtue of which he may cause it to be sold and the price appropriated in payment of his debt. This is a right in the thing, or jus in re. Pothier. B. R. Curtis. [ 1913 Webster ]

There are but few cases, if any, in our law, where an hypothecation, in the strict sense of the Roman law, exists; that is a pledge without possession by the pledgee. Story. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the modern civil law, this contract has no application to movable property, not even to ships, to which and their cargoes it is most frequently applied in England and America. See Hypothecate. B. R. Curtis. Domat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law of Shipping) A contract whereby, in consideration of money advanced for the necessities of the ship, the vessel, freight, or cargo is made liable for its repayment, provided the ship arrives in safety. It is usually effected by a bottomry bond. See Bottomry. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This term is often applied to mortgages of ships. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) One who hypothecates or pledges anything as security for the repayment of money borrowed.