Security, n.; pl. Securities.
Etymology: [L. securitas: cf. F. sécurité. See Secure, and cf. Surety.]
1. The condition or quality of being secure; secureness. Specifically: (a) Freedom from apprehension, anxiety, or care; confidence of power of safety; hence, assurance; certainty. His trembling hand had lost the ease, Which marks security to please. Sir W. Scott.
(b) Hence, carelessness; negligence; heedlessness. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss, Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, Grows strong and great in substance and in power. Shak.
(c) Freedom from risk; safety. Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard, From firm security. Shak. Some . . . alleged that we should have no security for our trade. Swift.
2. That which secures or makes safe; protection; guard; defense. Specifically: (a) Something given, deposited, or pledged, to make certain the fulfillment of an obligation, the performance of a contract, the payment of a debt, or the like; surety; pledge. Those who lent him money lent it on no security but his bare word. Macaulay.
3 more senses
(b) One who becomes surety for another, or engages himself for the performance of another's obligation.
3. An evidence of debt or of property, as a bond, a certificate of stock, etc.; as, government securities.
Syn. -- Protection; defense; guard; shelter; safety; certainty; ease; assurance; carelessness; confidence; surety; pledge; bail.
Shades of meaning
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 of the same kind as that to be given, a portion of it delivered in advance, as when part of the purchase-money is paid, according to the common expression, "to bind the bargain." A pledge or security may be wholly different in kind from that to be given or paid, and may greatly exceed it in value. Security may be of real or personal property--anything of sufficient value to make the creditor secure; a pledge is always of personal property or chattels. Every pawnshop contains unredeemed pledges; land, merchandise, bonds, etc., are frequently offered and accepted as 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."
Prepositions
Security for the payment of a debt; security to the state, for the prisoner, in the sum of a thousand dollars.