indenture

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term. Often used in the plural.
2. n. A document in duplicate having indented edges.
3. n. A deed or legal contract executed between two or more parties.
4. n. An official or authenticated inventory, list, or voucher.
5. n. Indentation.
6. v. To bind into the service of another by indenture.
7. v. Archaic To form a small depression in (a surface).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of indenting, or the state of being indented; indentation.
2. n. In law: A deed between two or more parties with mutual covenants, having the edge indented for identification and security. See indent, n., 2.
3. n. Now, in general, a deed or sealed agreement between two or more parties.
4. To indent; wrinkle; furrow.
5. To bind by indenture: as, to indenture an apprentice.
6. To run in a zigzag course; double in running.

Wiktionary

1. n. law A contract which binds a person to work for another, under specified conditions, for a specified time (often as an apprentice).
2. n. law A document, written as duplicates separated by indentations, specifying such a contract.
3. n. An indentation.
4. v. To bind a person under such a contract.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of indenting, or state of being indented.
2. n. (Law) A mutual agreement in writing between two or more parties, whereof each party has usually a counterpart or duplicate, sometimes with the edges indented for purpose of identification; sometimes in the pl., a short form for indentures of apprenticeship, the contract by which a youth is bound apprentice to a master.
3. n. A contract by which anyone is bound to service.
4. v. To indent; to make hollows, notches, or wrinkles in; to furrow.
5. v. To bind by indentures or written contract.
6. v. To run or wind in and out; to be cut or notched; to indent.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant
2. n. a concave cut into a surface or edge (as in a coastline)
3. n. the space left between the margin and the start of an indented line
4. n. formal agreement between the issuer of bonds and the bondholders as to terms of the debt
5. n. a contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term