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bankrupt

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Partial calque of Italian bancarotta (literally a broken bench), from banca (bank, literally bench) + rotta (broken, rupted), which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken, signifying that the working moneylender was insolvent.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)

  1. (finance, of a person, company, etc.) In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent. [from 1565]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:impoverished
    a bankrupt merchant
  2. (figurative) Destitute of, or wholly lacking a good quality, value, etc. one should possess or once possessed. [from 1567]
    a morally bankrupt politician

Translations

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Verb

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bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)

  1. (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.
    • 1953 August, David R. Webb, “By Rail to Bournemouth”, in Railway Magazine, page 553:
      The cost of the Mendip line had, however, bankrupted the S.D.R. [Somerset & Dorset Railway], and it was leased to the two larger companies for 999 years in 1875, and named the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.

Translations

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Noun

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bankrupt (plural bankrupts)

  1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.
  2. (UK, law, obsolete) A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.

Translations

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Derived terms

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See also

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References

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