deposit
/dɪˈpɒzɪt
/noun
1A sum of money paid into a bank or building society account: cash funds which are an alternative to bank or building society deposits...
- Any money market accounts, certificates of deposits, bank bonds, Treasuries, and savings are assets.
- Unlike safe investments such as bank deposits or Treasury bonds, dividends are not guaranteed.
- But a claim - and bank notes or deposits are claims to money - does not involve the creditor's relinquishing any of the present good.
2A sum payable as a first instalment on the purchase of something or as a pledge for a contract, the balance being payable later: we’ve saved enough for a deposit on a house...
- Persimmon said then that the acquisition of 20,000 shares was merely a deposit on a conditional contract to buy the ground, subject to planning permission and vacant possession.
- Lowry then used the balance as a deposit on a property at Cheadle near Manchester.
- The shares had simply been bought to secure the deposit on the contract.
Synonyms
down payment, part payment, advance payment, prepayment, instalment, security, retainer, pledge, stake;
front money, money up front
2.1A returnable sum payable on the hire or rental of something, to cover possible loss or damage: a refundable €100 deposit is payable on arrival at the villa...
- The damage deposit covered their final month's rent but their lease was obviously dead.
- The most a landlord can ask for in terms of a damage deposit is the last month's rent, payable before the tenant occupies a unit.
- Force convicted slumlords to give damage deposits to the government.
2.2(In the UK) a sum of money lodged by an election candidate and forfeited if they fail to receive a certain proportion of the votes: he lost his deposit but was credited with contributing to the Conservatives' defeat...
- He attracted only 1,392 votes and lost his deposit.
- A candidate shall lose his deposit if he has received less than six percent of the number of valid ballots in the election and has failed to win a seat in the subsequent election run-off.
- At the general election of 1950, it put up 100 candidates, lost both its seats, and forfeited 97 deposits.
3A layer or mass of accumulated matter: the deposits of salt on the paintwork...
- Birth defects and complications are also being missed because ultrasound waves are unable to penetrate large fat deposits.
- ‘Placer’ gold deposits are those that accumulate in the sediments of stream beds.
- The alkaline action of raw juices dissolves the accumulation of deposits around the joints and in other tissue.
Synonyms
accumulation, sediment, sublimate;
layer, covering, coating, dusting, blanket
3.1A natural underground layer of rock, coal, or other material: a great quantity of pottery was found in this deposit [with modifier]: areas of mineral deposits...
- The removal of huge amounts of material from the underground deposit causes massive subsidence at the surface.
- Asbestos is a fibrous mineral mined from rock deposits.
- Mongolia, population 2.3 million, lives on mostly undeveloped land with so much mineral wealth that coal deposits sit on the desert surface.
Synonyms
seam, vein, lode, layer, stratum, bed, accumulation
4 [mass noun] The action of placing something in a specified place: the deposit of a thesis in a library gives no guarantee of copyright protection [count noun]: although some people will be withdrawing money, others will be making new deposits...
- Disposal will include, but not be confined to, any of the processes of removal, transport and deposit.
- Just try to make a cash deposit to your bank account.
- But, surprisingly, much of the world views that money creation only occurs with the deposit into a bank account.
verb (deposits, depositing, deposited)
1 [with object and usually with adverbial of place] Put or set down (something or someone) in a specific place: he deposited a pile of school books on the kitchen table...
- The train deposits you at Sirkeci station, in the heart of Istanbul, at the gateway to the Golden Horn.
- Ben yanked him up by the back of his collar and half dragged him to the livery, depositing him in a pile of hay.
- ‘See you later,’ Tim says, after Adam is safely deposited in a sitting position on his blankets.
Synonyms
put (down), place, lay (down), set (down), unload, rest, settle, sit;
drop, let fall, throw down, fling down
informal dump, stick, park, plonk, pop, shove
British informal bung
North American informal plunk
archaic unlade
rare posit
1.1(Of water, the wind, or other natural agency) lay down (matter) gradually as a layer or covering: beds where salt is deposited by the tide...
- Sand was deposited by wind or water, and briefly wetted by liquid water that evaporated, forming the sulfate cement.
- Geologists suggested the layers may have been formed either by ash from a volcano or from sediments deposited by wind or liquid water.
- Fossils, he claimed, were the remains of once-living organisms, turned to stone inside layers of silt or sand deposited by water.
Synonyms
leave behind, leave, set down, let settle, precipitate, dump;
wash up, cast up
1.2Lay (an egg): the female deposits a line of eggs...
- The males become pregnant after the females deposit their eggs onto them.
- Evidence for this comes from the fact that eggs at different stages of development can be found in their nests, suggesting that multiple females deposited eggs in the nest.
- A female ready to deposit her eggs seeks out a bloodsucking insect, generally a fly or mosquito.
2 [with object] Place (something) somewhere for safekeeping: a vault in which guests may deposit valuable property...
- He also suggested that to prevent such a theft we should have deposited the helmets with him for safekeeping.
- After depositing my bags in a sarkari guest house I made for the office of the Dashauli Gram Swarajya Mandal.
- Traditionally, villagers deposit money in post offices as they consider them safe and they also earn more interest compared to banks.
2.1Pay (a sum of money) into a bank or building society account: the money had been deposited in a Swiss bank account...
- This may prevent the victim of a fraud seeking a proprietary remedy against a bank where money has been deposited into a bank account.
- The only sign of him is the money that's deposited into my bank account every month.
- Would you also like to go to the bank and deposit regular sums of money?
Synonyms
lodge, bank, house, store, stow, put away, hoard, lay in;
entrust, consign, commit
informal stash, squirrel away, salt away, put aside for a rainy day
2.2Pay (a sum) as a first instalment or as a pledge for a contract: I had to deposit 10% of the price of the house...
- Earlier, the students were compelled to pay a fee of Rs 5,000 apart from Rs 23,000 deposited as the first installment for getting the institute affiliated.
- In fact, we allow them to deposit NT $20,000 initially and pay the remainder in installments.
Phrases
on deposit
Origin
Late 16th century (especially in the phrases in deposit or on deposit): from Latin depositum (noun), medieval Latin depositare (verb), both from Latin deposit- 'laid aside', from the verb deponere.