Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLEDGE, n. [Fr. pleige; It. pieggeria; Norm. plegg. This is evidently the Celtic form of the Teutonic plight, Sax. pliht, plihtan. See Plight. It coincides with L. plico, Gr. πλεκω, W. plygu, to fold, properly to lay to, to put or throw to or on. A pledge is that which is laid or deposited.]

1. Something put in pawn; that which is deposited with another as security for the repayment of money borrowed, or for the performance of some agreement or obligation; a pawn. A. borrows ten pounds of B., and deposits his watch as a pledge that the money shall be repaid; and by the repayment of the money, A. redeems the pledge.
2. Any thing given or considered as a security for the performance of an act. Thus a man gives his word or makes a promise to another, which is received as a pledge for fulfillment. The mutual affection of husband and wife is a pledge for the faithful performance of the marriage covenant. Mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties.
3. A surety; a hostage. – Ralegh. Dryden.
4. In law, a gage or security real or personal, given for the repayment of money. It is of two kinds; vadium vivum, a living pledge, as when a man borrows money and grants an estate to be held by the pledgee, till the rents and profits shall refund the money, in which case the land or pledge is said to be living; or it is vadium mortuum, a dead pledge, called a mortgage. [See Mortgage.] – Blackstone.
5. In law, bail; surety given for the prosecution of a suit, or for the appearance of a defendant, or for restoring goods taken in distress and replevied. The distress itself is also called a pledge, and the glove formerly thrown down by a champion in trial by battle, was a pledge by which the champion stipulated to encounter his antagonist in that trial. – Blackstone.
6. A warrant to secure a person from injury in drinking. To put in pledge, to pawn. To hold in pledge, to keep as security.