anaconda mortgage
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.95 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "[I]t was not given to the prophet Isaiah even, to look down the vista of time for 2,500 years and read the Statutes of Arkansas. Under them every man who executes an anaconda mortgage is considered to plant and eat not; for them the heavens might as well be brass and the earth iron."
- "Furthermore, the merchants soon discovered the Anaconda mortgage, which forced the owner to back up his crop lien with everything he owned — land, money, and personal property."
- "In 1883 Alabama established the "Anaconda" mortgage, which "gave the landlord the right to take not only his tenant's crop . . . but also his furniture, household goods, and personal effects," again with primacy over merchant claims."
Etymology
An allusion to being trapped in the crushing coils of a large constrictor snake, such as an anaconda, suggesting the crushing burden of such debt.