underwrite
VerbUS[uhn-der-rahyt]/ˈʌndɚˌraɪt/3 syllables
Open English WordNet
Verb (2)underwritten, underwrote, underwriting
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Un′der·write′ transitive verb [past tense Underwrote, obsolete. Underwrit (…); past participle Underwritten, obsolete. Underwrit; present participle & verbal noun Underwriting.]
1. To write under something else; to subscribe.
What addition and change I have made I have here underwritten.— Bp. Robert Sanderson
2. To subscribe one's name to for insurance, especially for marine insurance; to write one's name under, or set one's name to, as a policy of insurance, for the purpose of becoming answerable for loss or damage, on consideration of receiving a certain premium per cent; as, individuals, as well as companies, may underwrite policies of insurance. Ben Jonson
The broker who procures the insurance ought not, by underwriting the policy, to deprive the parties of his unbiased testimony.— John Marshall
Un′der·write′ intransitive verb
To practice the business of insuring; to take a risk of insurance on a vessel or the like.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54