Your ShelfYour Projects
Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Guaranty

Guàr'an-ty, n.

noun

(gär/an-tÿ), n. [O. Fr. guarantie, N. Fr. garantie, Pr. guarantia, garentia, Sp. & Pg. garantia, It. guarantia, from O. Fr. guarantir, N. Fr. garantir, Pr. garantir, Sp. & Pg. garantir, It. guarantire, guarantire, to warrant, from O. Fr. guarant, N. Fr. garant, Pr. guaran, guiren, Sp. garante, O. It. guarento, L. Lat. warens, O. H. Ger. werént, O. Fries. werand, warend, a warrantor, from O. H. Ger. werén, to warrant, guard, keep.] (Law.) An undertaking to answer for the payment of some debt, or the performance of some contract or duty, of another, in case of the failure of such other to pay or perform; a warranty; a security.

Guàr'an-ty, v. t.

verbtransitive

(gār'an-tē), v. t. [imp. & p. p. GUARANTIED; p. pr. & vb. n. GUARANTYING.]

  1. (Law.) To undertake or engage that another person shall perform what he has stipulated; to undertake to be answerable for the debt or default of another; to engage to answer for the performance of some promise or duty by another in case of a failure by the latter to perform.
  2. To undertake to secure to another, at all events.
  3. To indemnify; to save harmless.

☞ Guaranty is the prevalent form of writing the word among legal writers and in law-books, in the United States, both for the verb and the substantive. Guarantee is the form most commonly used in England.