Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
a written agreement (or property or money) delivered to a third party or put in trust by one party to a contract to be returned after fulfillment of some condition;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Escrow \Es"crow\, n. [OF. escroe, escroue, a roll of writings,
bond. See Scroll.] (Law)
A deed, bond, or other written engagement, delivered to a
third person, to be held by him till some act is done or some
condition is performed, and then to be by him delivered to
the grantee. --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
escrow
n 1: a written agreement (or property or money) delivered to a
third party or put in trust by one party to a contract to
be returned after fulfillment of some condition
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
20 Moby Thesaurus words for "escrow":
bail, bond, earnest, earnest money, gage, handsel, hock, hostage,
mainprise, pawn, pignus, pledge, recognizance, replevin, replevy,
surety, token payment, undertaking, vadimonium, vadium
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
escrow
An arrangement where something (generally money or
documents) is held in trust ("in escrow") by a trusted third
party until certain agreed conditions are met. In computing
the term is used for key escrow and also for source code
escrow.
(1999-12-14)
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
ESCROW, conveyancing, contracts. A conditional delivery of a deed to a
stranger, and not to the grantee himself, until certain conditions shall be
performed, and then it is to be delivered to the grantee. Until the
condition be performed and the deed delivered over, the estate does not
pass, but remains in the grantor. 2 Johns. R. 248; Perk. 137, 138.
2. Generally, an escrow takes effect from the second delivery, and is
to be considered as the deed of the party from that time; but this general
rule does not apply when justice requires a resort to fiction. The relation
back to the first delivery, so as to give the deed effect from that time, is
allowed in cases of necessity, to avoid injury to the operation of the deed,
from events happening between the first and second delivery. For example,
when a feme sole makes a deed and delivers it as an escrow, and then marries
before the second delivery, the relation back to the time when she was sole,
is necessary to render the deed valid. Vide 2 Bl. Com. 307; 2 Bouv. Inst. n.
2024; 4 Kent, Com. 446; Cruise, Dig. t. 32, c. 2, s. 87 to 91; Com. Dig.
Fait, A 3; 13 Vin. Ab. 29; 5 Mass. R. 60; 2 Root, R. 81; 5 Conn. R. 113; 1
Conn. R. 375; 6 Paige's R. 314; 2 Mass. R. 452; 10 Wend. R. 310; 4 Green].
R. 20; 2 N. H. Rep. 71; 2 Watts', R. 359; 13 John. R. 285; 4 Day's R. 66; 9
Mass. R. 310 1 John. Cas. 81; 6 Wend. R. 666; 2 Wash. R. 58; 8 Mass. R. 238;
4 Watts, R. 180; 9 Mass. Rep. 310; 2 Johns. Rep. 258-9; 13 Johns. Rep. 285;
Cox, Dig. tit, Escrow; Prest. Shep. Touch. 56, 57, 58; Shep. Prec. 54, 56; 1
Prest. Abst. 275; 3 Prest. Ab. 65; 3 Rep. 35; 5 Rep. 84.