Indent

To cut in the shape of teeth. Deeds of indenture were anciently written on the same parchment or paper as many times as there were parties to the instrument, the word chirographum being written between, and then the several copies cut apart in a zigzag or notched line (whence the name), part of the word chirographum (q. v.) being on either side of it; and each party kept a copy. The later practice was to cut the top or side of the deed in a waving or notched line; 2 Bla. Com. 295. To bind by indentures; to apprentice; as, to indent a young man to a shoemaker. Webster, Diet. In American Law. An indented certificate issued by the government of the United States at the close of the revolution for the principal or interest of the public debt.

Ramsay, Hamilton, Webster; Eliot, Funding System 35; U. S. v. Irwin, 5 McLean 178, Fed. Cas. No. 15,445; Acts of April 30, 1790, sess. 2, c. 9, § 14, and of March 3, 1825, sess. 2, c. 65, § 17.

The word is no longer in use in this sense.