Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: mort 'dead' + gage 'promise'

mortgage

1 noun
     
Related topics: Loans
mort‧gage1 W3 [countable]
1BFL a legal arrangement by which you borrow money from a bank or similar organization in order to buy a house, and pay back the money over a period of years:
Your building society or bank will help arrange a mortgage.
They've taken out a 30 year mortgage (=they will pay for their house over a period of 30 years).
We decided to use Fred's redundancy money to pay off the mortgage (=pay back all the money we borrowed for a mortgage).
Mortgage rates are set to rise again in the spring.
She was having trouble meeting her mortgage payments.
2BFL the amount of money you borrow in the form of a mortgage:
If you earn £20,000 per year, then you may be able to get a mortgage of £60,000.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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