pawn
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /pɔːn/
- Rhymes: -ɔːn
- (US) IPA(key): /pɔn/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /pɑn/
- (Southern American English) IPA(key): /pɑɒn/
- Homophone: porn (non-rhotic accents)
Audio (UK) (file)
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English pown, pawn, from Anglo-Norman paun, poun (“pawn, pedestrian”) ( = Old French poon, päon, pëon), from Late Latin pedō, pedōnis (“footsoldier”), from Latin pēs, pēd- (“foot”). Doublet of peon.
Noun[edit]
pawn (plural pawns)
- (chess) The most common chess piece, or a similar piece in a similar game. In chess each side has eight; moves are only forward, and attacks are only forward diagonally or en passant.
- (figuratively) Someone who is being manipulated or used to some end.
- Though a pawn of the gods, her departure is the precipitating cause of the Trojan War.
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:pawn
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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See also[edit]
Pawn (chess) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Appendix:Chess_pieces
Chess pieces in English · chess pieces, chessmen (see also: chess) (layout · text) | |||||
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king | queen | castle, rook | bishop | knight | pawn |
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle French pan (“pledge, security”), apparently from a Germanic language (compare Middle Dutch pant, Old High German pfant).
Noun[edit]
pawn (countable and uncountable, plural pawns)
- (uncountable) The state of being held as security for a loan, or as a pledge.
- All our jewellery was in pawn by this stage.
- An instance of pawning something.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown.
- 1624, John Donne, Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, OCLC 55189476; republished as Geoffrey Keynes, John Sparrow, editor, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: […], Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923, OCLC 459265555:
- As therefore the morning dew is a pawn of the evening fatness, so, O Lord, let this day's comfort be the earnest of to-morrow's.
- (now rare) An item given as security on a loan, or as a pledge.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:, New York, 2001, p.106:
- Brokers, takers of pawns, biting userers, I will not admit; yet […] I will tolerate some kind of usery.
- a. 1626, Francis Bacon, Of Usury
- As for mortgaging or pawning, […] men will not take pawns without use [i.e. interest].
- (rare) A pawnshop; pawnbroker.
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
pawn (third-person singular simple present pawns, present participle pawning, simple past and past participle pawned)
- To pledge; to stake or wager.
- To give as security on a loan of money; especially, to deposit (something) at a pawn shop.
- 1904, Henry Warren, The Customer's Guide to Banking (page 7)
- A certain, and probably an appreciable, proportion of his so-called money at call and short notice would consist of fortnightly advances made to members of the Stock Exchange against pawned stocks and shares.
- 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone
- But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it, babe.
- 1904, Henry Warren, The Customer's Guide to Banking (page 7)
Synonyms[edit]
- (to deposit at a pawn shop): hock
Translations[edit]
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See also[edit]
Etymology 3[edit]
Noun[edit]
pawn (countable and uncountable, plural pawns)
- Alternative form of paan
- 1832, Meer Hassan Ali, Observations on the Mussulmauns of India:
- A tray filled with pawns, prepared with the usual ingredients, as lime cuttie (a bitter gum), betel-nut, tobacco, spices, &c.
- 1892, Chambers's Journal (volume 69, page 320)
- To our English taste, pawn is very offensive; but the natives of India relish it, and regard it as a necessity. It is much eaten by Mohammedans of both sexes, and by the natives of Bengal.
Etymology 4[edit]
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun[edit]
pawn (plural pawns)
- A gallery.
Etymology 5[edit]
Verb[edit]
pawn (third-person singular simple present pawns, present participle pawning, simple past and past participle pawned)
- (video games) Alternative form of pwn
Anagrams[edit]
Middle English[edit]
Noun[edit]
pawn
- Alternative form of pown (“pawn”)
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with homophones
- English terms with audio links
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ped-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Chess
- English terms with usage examples
- Translingual translations
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with rare senses
- English verbs
- en:Video games
- en:People
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns