Definition of: security

(si·kyr′ə·tē) noun plural ·ties
1. The state of being secure; specifically, freedom from danger, risk, care, poverty, or apprehension.
2. One who or that which secures or guarantees; surety.
3. plural Written promises or something deposited or pledged for payment of money, as stocks, bonds, etc.
4. Methods adopted for insuring freedom or secrecy of action, communications, etc., as in wartime; also, the protection afforded by such methods. Synonyms: bail, collateral, earnest, gage, pledge, surety. The first four words agree in denoting something given or deposited as an assurance of something to be given, paid, or done. An earnest is a portion delivered in advance, as when part of the purchase money is paid, “to bind the bargain.” A pledge or security may be wholly different in kind from that to be given or paid; it may greatly exceed it in value, and may be of real or personal property; a pledge (as here considered) is always of personal property or chattels. Every pawnshop contains unredeemed pledges; land, merchandise, bonds, etc., are frequently offered and accepted as security. Collateral is property, as stocks, bonds, etc., actually deposited as security, often termed collateral security. A person may become security or surety for another's payment of a debt, appearance in court, etc.; in the latter case, he is said to become bail for that person; the person accused gives bail for himself. Gage survives only as a literary word, chiefly in certain phrases; as, “the gage of battle.”