suretyship
(ˈʃʊətɪʃɪp, ˈʃʊərɪtɪʃɪp)
Forms: see prec.: also 6 suertishipe, -shyp, surtishipp, suretishippe, 7–9 suretiship.
[f. prec. n. + -ship.]
The position or function of a surety (see prec. 7); responsibility or obligation undertaken by one person on behalf of another, as for payment of a debt, performance of some act, etc.
| 1535 Coverdale Prov. xi. 15 He that is suertye for a straunger, hurteth himself: but he that medleth not with suerteshippe, is sure. 1562 Act 5 Eliz. c. 21 §5 To releas..the said suertieshippe of good Abearing. 1612 W. Parkes Curtaine-Dr. To Rdr. (1876) 4 Beware of Suretiship. 1659 Gentl. Calling (1696) 103 To rook him at Play, entangle him in Suretiship. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman xi. (1841) I. 86 Suretiship for the debt. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. i, A poor man undone by shipwreck, by suretyship, by fire. 1870 Burton Hist. Scot. liii. (1873) V. 6 The regent was not satisfied with this suretiship. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 161/2 Private suretyship is attended by many evils. |
b. Said of Christ.
| 1642 T. Goodwin Christ set forth 148 He is not quit of this Surety-ship and engagement. 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life ii. vii. §6 Wks. 1718 I. 420 We have not only God's Word, but also the Suretyship of our Saviour to depend on. |