The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Assurance \As*sur"ance\, n. [OE. assuraunce, F. assurance, fr.
   assurer. See Assure.]
   1. The act of assuring; a declaration tending to inspire full
      confidence; that which is designed to give confidence.
      [1913 Webster]

            Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in
            that he hath raised him from the dead. --Acts xvii.
                                                  31.
      [1913 Webster]

            Assurances of support came pouring in daily.
                                                  --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The state of being assured; firm persuasion; full
      confidence or trust; freedom from doubt; certainty.
      [1913 Webster]

            Let us draw with a true heart in full assurance of
            faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
            conscience.                           --Heb. x. 22.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Firmness of mind; undoubting, steadiness; intrepidity;
      courage; confidence; self-reliance.
      [1913 Webster]

            Brave men meet danger with assurance. --Knolles.
      [1913 Webster]

            Conversation with the world will give them knowledge
            and assurance.                        --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Excess of boldness; impudence; audacity; as, his assurance
      is intolerable.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Betrothal; affiance. [Obs.] --Sir P. Sidney.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. Insurance; a contract for the payment of a sum on occasion
      of a certain event, as loss or death.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Recently, assurance has been used, in England, in
         relation to life contingencies, and insurance in
         relation to other contingencies. It is called temporary
         assurance, in the time within which the contingent
         event must happen is limited. See Insurance.
         [1913 Webster]

   7. (Law) Any written or other legal evidence of the
      conveyance of property; a conveyance; a deed.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In England, the legal evidences of the conveyance of
         property are called the common assurances of the
         kingdom. --Blackstone.
         [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

assurance
    n 1: freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities;
         "his assurance in his superiority did not make him
         popular"; "after that failure he lost his confidence"; "she
         spoke with authority" [syn: assurance, self-assurance,
         confidence, self-confidence, authority, sureness]
    2: a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something;
       "an assurance of help when needed"; "signed a pledge never to
       reveal the secret" [syn: assurance, pledge]
    3: a statement intended to inspire confidence; "the President's
       assurances were not respected"
    4: a British term for some kinds of insurance

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

266 Moby Thesaurus words for "assurance":
   Bible oath, absolute certainty, absoluteness, acceptation,
   acception, accident insurance, acquiescence, actuary, agreement,
   aid and comfort, annuity, aplomb, arrogance, ascertainment,
   aspiration, assumption, assured faith, assuredness, audacity,
   aviation insurance, avouch, avouchment, avow, bail bond, balance,
   belief, boldness, bond, brashness, brass, brazenness,
   bumptiousness, business life insurance, casualty insurance,
   certain knowledge, certainness, certainty,
   certificate of insurance, certification, certitude, check,
   checking, cheek, cheerful expectation, chutzpah, clear sailing,
   cockiness, cocksureness, collation, comfort, commitment, compact,
   composure, conceit, condolence, confidence, confidentness,
   confirmation, consolation, control, contumely, conviction,
   coolness, courage, court bond, covenant, credence, credit,
   credit insurance, credit life insurance, credulity, dead certainty,
   deductible, definiteness, dependence, desire, determinacy,
   determinateness, determination, doomed hope, easement, effrontery,
   emboldening, encouragement, endowment insurance, ensuring,
   equability, equanimity, equilibrium, establishment, expectation,
   extrajudicial oath, fair prospect, faith,
   family maintenance policy, fervent hope, fidelity bond,
   fidelity insurance, flood insurance, fraternal insurance, gall,
   good cheer, good hope, government insurance, great expectations,
   guarantee, guaranty, gumption, guts, gutsiness, hardihood,
   hardiness, harmlessness, health insurance, heartening, high hopes,
   hope, hopeful prognosis, hopefulness, hopes, hoping,
   hoping against hope, hubris, immunity, impudence, indemnity,
   industrial life insurance, ineluctability, inerrability, inerrancy,
   inevitability, infallibilism, infallibility, insolence,
   inspiration, inspiriting, inspiritment, insurance, insurance agent,
   insurance broker, insurance company, insurance man,
   insurance policy, interinsurance, intrepidity, invulnerability,
   ironclad oath, judicial oath, level head, levelheadedness,
   liability insurance, license bond, limited payment insurance,
   loyalty oath, major medical insurance, malpractice insurance,
   marine insurance, mutual company, necessity, nerve, nonambiguity,
   noncontingency, oath, oath of allegiance, oath of office,
   obtrusiveness, ocean marine insurance, official oath,
   overconfidence, oversureness, overweening, overweeningness, pact,
   parole, permit bond, pledge, plight, poise, policy, pomposity,
   positiveness, possession, prayerful hope, predestination,
   predetermination, presence of mind, presumption, presumptuousness,
   pride, probatum, procacity, promise, prospect, prospects,
   protection, proved fact, pushiness, reassurance, reassurement,
   reception, reliance, reliance on, relief, resolve, restraint,
   risklessness, robbery insurance, safeguard, safeness, safety,
   sangfroid, sanguine expectation, security, self-assurance,
   self-command, self-conceit, self-confidence, self-control,
   self-importance, self-possession, self-reliance, self-restraint,
   settled belief, shred of comfort, social security, solace,
   solacement, solemn declaration, solemn oath, steadiness, stock,
   stock company, stocks and bonds, store, subjective certainty,
   substantiation, support, sureness, surety, suspension of disbelief,
   sympathy, term insurance, test oath, theft insurance, tie, troth,
   trust, truth, unambiguity, understanding, underwriter,
   unequivocalness, univocity, unmistakableness, uppishness,
   uppityness, validation, vanity, verification, vow, warrant,
   warranty, well-grounded hope, well-regulated mind, word,
   word of honor



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Assurance
   The resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:31) is the "assurance" (Gr.
   pistis, generally rendered "faith") or pledge God has given that
   his revelation is true and worthy of acceptance. The "full
   assurance [Gr. plerophoria, 'full bearing'] of faith" (Heb.
   10:22) is a fulness of faith in God which leaves no room for
   doubt. The "full assurance of understanding" (Col. 2:2) is an
   entire unwavering conviction of the truth of the declarations of
   Scripture, a joyful steadfastness on the part of any one of
   conviction that he has grasped the very truth. The "full
   assurance of hope" (Heb. 6:11) is a sure and well-grounded
   expectation of eternal glory (2 Tim. 4:7, 8). This assurance of
   hope is the assurance of a man's own particular salvation.

     This infallible assurance, which believers may attain unto as
   to their own personal salvation, is founded on the truth of the
   promises (Heb. 6:18), on the inward evidence of Christian
   graces, and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption (Rom.
   8:16). That such a certainty may be attained appears from the
   testimony of Scripture (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 2:3; 3:14), from the
   command to seek after it (Heb. 6:11; 2 Pet. 1:10), and from the
   fact that it has been attained (2 Tim. 1:12; 4:7, 8; 1 John 2:3;
   4:16).

     This full assurance is not of the essence of saving faith. It
   is the result of faith, and posterior to it in the order of
   nature, and so frequently also in the order of time. True
   believers may be destitute of it. Trust itself is something
   different from the evidence that we do trust. Believers,
   moreover, are exhorted to go on to something beyond what they at
   present have when they are exhorted to seek the grace of full
   assurance (Heb. 10:22; 2 Pet. 1:5-10). The attainment of this
   grace is a duty, and is to be diligently sought.

     "Genuine assurance naturally leads to a legitimate and abiding
   peace and joy, and to love and thankfulness to God; and these
   from the very laws of our being to greater buoyancy, strength,
   and cheerfulness in the practice of obedience in every
   department of duty."

     This assurance may in various ways be shaken, diminished, and
   intermitted, but the principle out of which it springs can never
   be lost. (See FAITH.)


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ASSURANCE, com. law. Insurance. (q.v.)



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ASSURANCE, conveyancing. This is called a common assurance. But the term
assurances includes, in an enlarged sense, all instruments which dispose of
property, whether they be the grants of private persons, or not; such are
fines and recoveries, and private acts of the legislature. Eunom. Dial. 2,
s. 5.