| Definitions | noun
- An action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another.
- 1589, w:William_Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, act 1, sc. 3,
- :Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
- :Of this proud king, who studies day and night
- :To answer all the he owes to you
- :Even with the bloody payment of your deaths.
- 1850, w:Nathaniel_Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, ch. 14,
- :This long of confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at length be paid.
- The state or condition of owing something to another.
- ''I am in your .
- Money that one person or entity owes or is required to pay to another, generally as a result of a loan or other financial transaction.
- 1919, w:Upton_Sinclair, Upton Sinclair, Jimmie Higgins, ch. 15,
- :Bolsheviki had repudiated the four-billion-dollar which the government of the Tsar had contracted with the bankers.
Translations: Etymology: From dete (French: dette), from debitam. A common English misspelling includes an unpronounced "b", which is an archaicism from the Latin "debitum".
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