hypothecate Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb pledge without delivery or title of possession
verb to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
conjecture; theorize; hypothesize; theorise; hypothesise; suppose; speculate.
- Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps

LL. hypothecatus, p.p. of hypothecare to pledge, fr. L. hypotheca pledge, security. See Hypotheca.

imperfect & past participle Hypothecated ; present participle & verbal noun Hypothecating

(Law) To subject, as property, to liability for a debt or engagement without delivery of possession or transfer of title; to pledge without delivery of possession; to mortgage, as ships, or other personal property; to make a contract by bottomry. See Hypothecation, Bottomry.
He had found the treasury empty and the pay of the navy in arrear. He had no power to hypothecate any part of the public revenue. Those who lent him money lent it on no security but his bare word. Macaulay.