amortize, -ise, v.
(əˈmɔːtɪz)
Forms: 4 amorteise, 5–6 amortyse, -eyse, -ysse, 4 amortise, 7– amortize. Aphet. 5 mortayse.
[orig. a. Fr. amortiss- extended stem of amort-ir to bring to death, cogn. w. Pr. amortir, OCat. amortir, It. ammortire:—possible late L. *admortīre, f. ad to + mort-em death. The etymological spelling of the last syllable would be -ise or rather -iss, -ish; amortize follows the med.L. a(d)mortizā-re, formed on the mod. languages: see -ize 2.]
† 1. trans. To deaden, render as if dead, destroy.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. 173 (Hengwrt MS.) The goode werkes that men don whil thay ben in good lif ben al amortised [other texts al mortefied] by synne folwyng. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Amortize, to deaden, kill, or slay. |
† 2. intr. To droop, hang as dead. Obs. rare.
| 1480 Caxton Ovid's Metam. xi. xix, With thys rayne wente the sayle amortyssynge and hanging hevy. |
3. To alienate in mortmain, i.e. to convey (property) to a corporation.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 315 And auyse hem..Or þei amortesed to monkes · or chanouns her rentes. 1393 ― C. xviii. 54 Er thei amorteisede. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems 207 Let mellerys and bakerys..a litil chapelle bylde, The place amorteyse, and purchase liberté. 1487 Prior in Paston Lett. 893 III. 332 The seide annuyte schulde be mortaysed in perpetuyte. 1530 Proper Dyaloge (1863) 37 To amorteyse secular lordshippes to the state of the clergye. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 74 Did in effect amortize a great part of the Lands of the Kingdome unto the Hold and Occupation of the Yeomanrie. 1750 Carte Hist. Engl. II. 452 Lands amortised without licence. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 245 To render inalienable or, so to speak, amortize the crown lands. |
4. To extinguish or wipe out (a debt or other liability), usually by means of a sinking fund, which eventually redeems it.
| 1882 St. James' Gaz. 3 Feb., They would introduce economies in order to amortise the Egyptian Debt. |