different between underwrite vs endorse

English

Etymology

From Middle English underwriten, from Old English underwr?tan (“to write at the foot of, write under, subscribe”), equivalent to under- +? write. Compare Dutch onderschrijven (“to endorse”), German unterschreiben (“to sign; endorse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nd??a?t/, /?nd???a?t/

Verb

underwrite (third-person singular simple present underwrites, present participle underwriting, simple past underwrote, past participle underwritten)

1. (transitive) To write below or under; subscribe.
2. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To subscribe (a document, policy etc.) with one's name.
3. (transitive) To sign; to put one's name to.
4. (transitive) To agree to pay by signing one's name; subscribe.
5. (transitive) Specifically, to assume financial responsibility for something, and guarantee it against failure.
6. (intransitive, insurance) To act as an underwriter.
   • 1810, Samuel Marshall, Of marine insurance

     The broker who procures the insurance […] ought not, by underwriting the policy, to deprive the parties of his unbiased testimony.

7. (transitive) To support, lend support to, guarantee the basis of.
8. (obsolete, transitive) To submit to; put up with.

Derived terms

• underwriter
• underwriting

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• indorse

Etymology

Alteration influenced by Medieval Latin indorsare of Middle English endosse, from Old French endosser (“to put on back”), from Latin dossum, alternative form of dorsum (“back”), from which also dorsal (“of the back”). That is, the ‘r’ was dropped in Latin dossum, which developed into Old French and then Middle English endosse, and then the ‘r’ was re-introduced into English via the Medieval Latin indorsare, which had retained the ‘r’. Note that the alternative spelling indorse also uses the initial ‘i’ from Latin (in-, rather than en-), but this form is now rare.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?d??s/, /?n?d??s/
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?n?d??s/

Verb

endorse (third-person singular simple present endorses, present participle endorsing, simple past and past participle endorsed)

1. To support, to back, to give one's approval to, especially officially or by signature.
2. To write one's signature on the back of a cheque, or other negotiable instrument, when transferring it to a third party, or cashing it.
3. To give an endorsement.
4. (medicine) To report (a symptom); to describe.

Derived terms

• disendorse
• endorsement

Related terms

• dorsal

Translations

Noun

endorse (plural endorses)

1. (heraldry) A diminutive of the pale, usually appearing in pairs on either side of a pale.

Usage notes

When a narrow, vertical stripe appears in a coat of arms, it is usually termed a pallet when used as the primary charge in the absence of a pale. The term endorse is typically used only when the stripes flank a central and wider pale. Diminutive stripes flanking other ordinaries are termed cottises.

Related terms

• endorsed

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Edensor