amortize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to liquidate gradually

   I am amortizing my assets.

2. 2
   verb

   To wipe out (a debt, liability etc.) gradually or in installments.

   Extraordinary borrowing had been so extensive, Joly de Fleury reckoned, that even if it were amortized over the following decade, the state would still be running an annual deficit of over 50 million livres.

From Middle English amortisen, from Old French amortir (via the stem amortiss-), from Vulgar Latin *admortīre, derived from Latin mortuus (“dead”).

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