assurance
(əˈʃʊərəns)
Also 4 asseurance, -ouerans, 4–6 assuraunce, 5–6 -ans. Aphet. surance, q.v.
[a. OF. asseürance (mod. assurance), f. asseürer to assure. Cf. It. assicuranza, Sp. aseguranza, Eng. assecurance: see -ance.]
I. The action of assuring.
* Of making certain.
1. A promise or engagement making a thing certain; a formal engagement, pledge, or guarantee.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 243 Wol ye maken assuraunce, As I schal say, assentyng to my lore? 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 99 He is departed wyth thyne assuraunce. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 192 Plight me the full assurance of your faith. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 78 The Macrons asked..whether they would giue assurance of that they said; Who answered, they were readie to giue, & take assurance. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. viii. 110 A symbol and assurance of the Divine pardon. |
b. esp. An engagement guaranteeing peace and safety; terms of peace. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1513–75 Diurn. Occurr. (1833) 277 Thair was assurance and trewis tane betuix the Inglis and Scottismen. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1214/1 [They] came in to the lord lieutenant, submitting themselues to him, and were receiued into assurance. 1653 Holcroft Procopius iii. 110 The rest of the Army..took assurances and yeilded to Totilas. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxx. 191 Hamilton was angry that assurances should have been given to the Covenanters. |
† 2. A marriage engagement, betrothal. Obs.
| 1494 Fabyan vii. 496 The Flemynges..had constrayned theyr erle to be assured, by bonde of assurance, unto y⊇ doughter of Kyng Edward. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 31 Wooing allowed by assurance of wedding. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 550 In knitting vp of marriages, and assurance making. 1641 Life Wolsey in Harl. Misc. (1793) 105 The Lord Piercys assurance to Mrs. Anne Bullen. |
3. A positive declaration intended to give confidence.
| 1609 Rowlands Knaue of Clubs 36 This assurance take, Some satisfaction I in part will make. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 303 He gave me all the Assurances that the Invention and Faith of Man could devise. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times III. xl. 202 He was probably quite sincere in the assurances he repeatedly gave. |
** Of making secure.
4. Law. The securing of a title to property; the conveyance of lands or tenements by deed; a legal evidence of the conveyance of property.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 33 In times past when men dealt vprightly..sixe or seuen lines was sufficient for the assurance of any peece of land whatsoeuer. 1648 Sheppard (title) The Touchstone of Common Assurances and Conveyances. 1768 Blackstone Comm. ii. xix. II. 294 The legal evidences of this translation of property are called the common assurances of the Kingdom; whereby every man's estate is assured to him. Ibid. II. 367 Copyhold estate..cannot possibly be transferred by any other assurance. |
5. The action of insuring or securing the value of property in the event of its being lost, or of securing the payment of a specified sum in the event of a person's death; insurance.
Technically, the present usage is to differentiate life-assurance, and fire- and marine-insurance; though, as will be seen from the quotations, assurance was the original term in reference to marine risks.
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 159 To haue a regard what winde must serue, and the true season of the yeare, which maketh a difference in the price of assurance. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. i. 51 Some keep an Assurance-office in their chamber. 1692 Lond. Gaz. No. 2747/4 Lost..a Police of Assurance made upon the Ship Olive-Branch. 1755 N. Magens Insurances II. 254 Assurance or Insurance is a just and faithful Compact, by which one, or more, in Consideration of the Payment of a Sum of Money agreed on, called the Insurance Premium, takes upon himself all the Dangers which may or shall happen to the Ship, Vessel, Effects, and Property of another. 1883 Daily News 18 Sept. 1/4 (Advt.) The Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation. 1883 Sc. Prov. Inst. Prospect., Yearly payments for Assurance of {pstlg}100 at death. |
II. The state of being sure or assured.
† 6. Objective certainty; = assuredness 1. Obs.
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 387, I can not beleve that thys ys of assurans. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxi. xvii, Wo worth the trust without assuraunce. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 538 New friends of more assurance. |
7. Security.
| 1559 Myrr. Mag., Dk. York vii. 4 Liung hopeles of his liues assuraunce. 1570 T. Wilson Demosth. 13 marg., Things wrongfully gotten haue none assurance. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 141 To sende..unto a place of most assuraunce all such as hee had taken prisoners. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 158 The Fortifications being weak, and of ill assurance. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 427 The King's ascent to the crown and assurance therein. |
8. Subjective certainty; a being certain as to a fact, certitude; confidence, trust.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 309 In his hye cheuelry Thai had assouerans, trast trewly. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1259 O trust, O feith, O depe asseuraunce! 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xxix, It is as naturall in men to purchase hope as assurance. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 183 But yet Ile make assurance double sure, And take a Bond of Fate. 1843 Mill Logic ii. vi. §3 We can have full assurance of particular results. a 1842 Tennyson Two Voices 315 The doubt would rest, I dare not solve..Assurance only breeds resolve. |
b. in Theol. (See quot.)
| 1651 C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 251 The Doctrine of Protestants concerning assurance of salvation..viz. that a man may have this assurance. 1852 Sir W. Hamilton Disc. (1853) 508 Assurance, Personal Assurance, Special Faith, (the feeling of certainty that God is propitious to me,—that my sins are forgiven). |
9. Self-confidence, self-reliance; confidence of manner, steadiness, intrepidity.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 263 Assurance is a certaine perswasion..whereby wee are confirmed in danger against euilles that threaten vs. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 72 Jaques..with his Flemings, received the charge with great assurance. 1734 tr. Rollin's Rom. Hist. (1827) II. 352 To inspire him with a noble assurance so necessary for those that are born to command. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 147 ¶8 The benefits of publick education, and the happiness of an assurance early acquired. |
10. In a bad sense: Hardihood, audacity, presumption, impudence.
| 1699 Bentley Phal. 281 Quote Authors they had never read, with an Air of Assurance. 1709 Swift Vind. Bickerstaff Wks. 1755 II. i. 174 Several of my friends had the assurance to ask me, whether I was in jest? 1771 Junius Lett. lxiii. 323 The barrister has not the assurance to deny it flatly. 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Vall. ii. 23, I should like to know where you picked up so much assurance. |