bankrupt
English edit
Etymology edit
Partial calque of Italian banca rotta, which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken. When a moneylender in Northern Italy became insolvent, they would break the bench they worked from to signify that they were no longer in business. (Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiano 1907)
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈbæŋ.kɹəpt/, /ˈbæŋ.kɹʌpt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/, /ˈbæŋk.ɹʌpt/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -æŋkɹəpt, -æŋkɹʌpt
Adjective edit
bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)
- (finance) In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay one's debts.
- a bankrupt merchant
- 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, page 141:
- "How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked.
"Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly."
- Having been legally declared insolvent.
- Destitute of, or wholly lacking (something once possessed, or something one should possess).
- a morally bankrupt politician
- 1715, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals:
- bankrupt in gratitude
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
having been legally declared insolvent
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See also edit
Verb edit
bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)
- (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.
Translations edit
force into bankruptcy
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Noun edit
bankrupt (plural bankrupts)
- One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person.
- (UK, law, obsolete) A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.
Translations edit
insolvent person
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References edit
- Michael Quinion (2004), “Bankrupt”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
- “bankrupt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.