to leave a valuable item with a pawnbroker in order to borrow money from them. If the person borrowing the money does not pay it back, the pawnbroker can sell the item to get back the debt, and any interest that is owed:
• As credit has gotten tighter for many people, the number willing to pawn their cars has increased.
1. in pawn if an item is in pawn, it has been left with a pawnbroker in order to borrow money from them
2. out of pawn if you take an item out of pawn, you pay back the money you have borrowed and get the item back from the pawnbroker
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Ⅰ.
pawn UK US /pɔːn/ verb [T]
► to leave a valuable possession with a pawnbroker (= someone who lends money in exchange for possessions): »
Under the law, the owner of an automobile may pawn it to secure a loan up to $2,500.
Ⅱ.
pawn UK US /pɔːn/ noun
► [C] a person or organization that does not have any real power, but is used by others to achieve something: a pawn in sth »
The federal jury rejected the company's defense that they were an unwitting pawn in the scheme to sell confidential documents.
Financial and business terms. 2012.