Endenter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person or party who signs and becomes bound by a formal legal document called an indenture
2. One of the signatories to a written agreement drawn up in duplicate and bound by its terms
3. Someone who takes on the obligations set out in an indenture, a contract formerly used in law and trade

Etymology: The term is a rare variant of "indenter," a person who draws up an indenture. An indenture was a formal agreement written twice on one sheet, which was then cut along a jagged, toothlike line. Each party kept one half, and the two could later be fitted together to prove that neither copy had been altered. That zigzag cut is the source of the name: Latin "dens," meaning tooth, gave Medieval Latin "indentare," to make notches like teeth. The verb reached English through Old French, which gave the form "endenter," so the spelling here preserves that French route. The exact date of its earliest English use is uncertain, but the legal sense of the word was well established by the late medieval period. The toothed edge became the basis for later meanings, including the sense of an indented line in printing and writing.