Definition

1. Noun:
   • A shop where loans are made with personal property as security: A pawnshop is a business that lends money to customers in exchange for a valuable item they leave as collateral. If the loan is repaid with interest within an agreed period, the customer gets the item back. If not, the pawnshop can sell the item to recover the loan amount.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • He took his old watch to the pawnshop to get some quick cash.
  • The pawnshop had a variety of guitars and jewelry in its display window.

Advanced Usage

• "to be in hock to the pawnshop": To have an item pledged at a pawnshop; to owe money to a pawnshop.
  • His camera is in hock to the pawnshop until he gets his next paycheck.

Variants and Related Words

• Pawnbroker (n): A person who owns or works in a pawnshop and lends money at interest.
  • The pawnbroker assessed the value of the ring.
• Pawn (v/n): The act of depositing an item as security for a loan (verb), or the item itself (noun).
  • He had to pawn his guitar. / His guitar is in pawn.
• Pawn ticket (n): The receipt given to a customer when they pawn an item.
  • Don't lose your pawn ticket, or you won't be able to redeem your item.

Synonyms

• Loan office: (A more formal, less common term for a place offering secured loans).
• Hock shop: (An informal synonym for a pawnshop).

Related Phrases

• Pawn off (phrasal verb): To get rid of something by selling it, especially deceptively. (Note: This is different from simply pawning an item at a pawnshop).
  • He tried to pawn off the fake painting as an original.

Related Idioms

• (All) to hell in a handbasket: (While not directly about pawnshops, the idiom "to go to hell in a handbasket" is sometimes associated with a desperate situation that might lead someone to a pawnshop).
  • After he lost his job, things went to hell in a handbasket, and he ended up selling his father's watch at the pawnshop.

Noun

1. a shop where loans are made with personal property as security