escrow
/ˈɛ.skɹoʊ̯/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.04 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A contractual arrangement whereby money or assets are held in trust by an independent agent by the agreement of the parties, which can only be released to the relevant party once certain contractual conditions have been fulfilled.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To place in escrow.
Example Sentences
- "GCN staffers wrote and called our landlords, complaining about the building's disrepair, for months before informing them, in September, 1985, that we would pay our rent into an escrow account until repairs were made."
- "The court will decide which party is the rightful owner of the items in escrow."
- "“Well, Dominic,” Della suddenly chimed in. “Seeing as this place of yours is still under escrow, seems to me it's not really yours yet, is it?”"
- "The regulators suggest that in underwriting these loans, lenders be required to take into account the ability of the borrowers to make monthly payments at the higher rates and also property taxes and homeowners insurance, which are often not escrowed monthly in subprime loans."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Law French escrowe, from Old French escroe (“register, note; bit of parchment; piece”), from Frankish *skrōda (“piece”), from Proto-Germanic *skraudō, derivative of Proto-Germanic *skraudaną (“to shred”). Doublet of scrow and shred and partially scroll.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: escroe, *skraudu, *skraudō, *skraudaną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɛ.skɹoʊ̯/
- British English: /ˈɛ.skɹəʊ̯/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.