Underwrite v. i. (past underwrote, obs. underwrit; past part. underwritten, obs. underwrit; pres. part. underwriting) To practice the business of insuring; to take a risk of insurance on a vessel or the like.
... as he might have done, that the opinion of those other creditors had been influenced almost entirely by his own and that in one or two instances he had been obliged practically to underwrite the payment of Hamilton and Company's indebtedness before gaining consent. He had talked with Mr. Howe, who in turn had called his daughter into consultation, and Barbara's enthusiastic praise of her friend had strengthened the favorable impression which the girl had already made ... — Mary-'Gusta • Joseph C. Lincoln
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