Also 4 asseurance, -ouerans, 4–6 assuraunce, 5–6 -ans. Aphet. SURANCE, q.v. [a. OF. asseürance (mod. assurance), f. asseürer to ASSURE. Cf. It. assicuranza, Sp. aseguranza, Eng. ASSECURANCE: see -ANCE.]
I. The action of assuring.
* Of making certain.
1. A promise or engagement making a thing certain; a formal engagement, pledge or guarantee.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Lawes T., 243. Wol ye maken assuraunce, As I schal say, assentyng to my lore?
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxvii. 99. He is departed wyth thyne assuraunce.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 192. Plight me the full assurance of your faith.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 78. The Macrons asked … whether they would giue assurance of that they said; Who answered, they were readie to giue, & take assurance.
1853. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. viii. 110. A symbol and assurance of the Divine pardon.
b. esp. An engagement guaranteeing peace and safety; terms of peace. Obs. exc. Hist.
1513–75. Diurn. Occurr. (1833), 277. Thair was assurance and trewis tane betuix the Inglis and Scottismen.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1214/1. [They] came in to the lord lieutenant, submitting themselues to him, and were receiued into assurance.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, III. 110. The rest of the Army … took assurances and yeilded to Totilas.
1873. Burton, Hist. Scot., VI. lxx. 191. Hamilton was angry that assurances should have been given to the Covenanters.
† 2. A marriage engagement, betrothal. Obs.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 496. The Flemynges … had constrayned theyr erle to be assured, by bonde of assurance, unto ye doughter of Kyng Edward.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 31. Wooing allowed by assurance of wedding.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 550. In knitting vp of marriages, and assurance making.
1641. Life Wolsey, in Harl. Misc. (1793), 105. The Lord Piercys assurance to Mrs. Anne Bullen.
3. A positive declaration intended to give confidence.
1609. Rowlands, Knaue of Clubs, 36. This assurance take, Some satisfaction I in part will make.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 303. He gave me all the Assurances that the Invention and Faith of Man could devise.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III. xl. 202. He was probably quite sincere in the assurances he repeatedly gave.
** Of making secure.
4. Law. The securing of a title to property; the conveyance of lands or tenements by deed; a legal evidence of the conveyance of property.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 33. In times past when men dealt vprightly … sixe or seuen lines was sufficient for the assurance of any peece of land whatsoeuer.
1648. Sheppard (title), The Touchstone of Common Assurances and Conveyances.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. xix. II. 294. The legal evidences of this translation of property are called the common assurances of the Kingdom; whereby every man’s estate is assured to him. Ibid., II. 367. Copyhold estate … cannot possibly be transferred by any other assurance.
5. The action of insuring or securing the value of property in the event of its being lost, or of securing the payment of a specified sum in the event of a person’s death; insurance.
Technically, the present usage is to differentiate life-assurance, and fire- and marine-insurance; though, as will be seen from the quotations, assurance was the original term in reference to marine risks.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 159. To haue a regard what winde must serue, and the true season of the yeare, which maketh a difference in the price of assurance.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. i. 51. Some keep an Assurance-office in their chamber.
1692. Lond. Gaz., No. 2747/4. Lost … a Police of Assurance made upon the Ship Olive-Branch.
1755. Magens, Insurances, II. 254. Assurance or Insurance is a just and faithful Compact, by which one, or more, in Consideration of the Payment of a Sum of Money agreed on, called the Insurance Premium, takes upon himself all the Dangers which may or shall happen to the Ship, Vessel, Effects, and Property of another.
1883. Daily News, 18 Sept., 1/4 (Advt.), The Employers’ Liability Assurance Corporation.
1883. Sc. Prov. Inst. Prospect. Yearly payments for Assurance of £100 at death.
II. The state of being sure or assured.
† 6. Objective certainty; = ASSUREDNESS 1. Obs.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 387. I can not beleve that thys ys of assurans.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXI. xvii. Wo worth the trust without assuraunce.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 538. New friends of more assurance.
7. Security.
1559. Myrr. Mag., Dk. York, vii. 4. Liung hopeles of his liues assuraunce.
1570. T. Wilson, Demosth., 13, marg. Things wrongfully gotten haue none assurance.
1576. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 141. To sende … unto a place of most assuraunce all such as he had taken prisoners.
1622. Heylin, Cosmogr., I. (1682), 158. The Fortifications being weak, and of ill assurance.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 427. The King’s ascent to the crown and assurance therein.
8. Subjective certainty; a being certain as to a fact, certitude; confidence, trust.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 309. In his hye cheuelry Thai had assouerans, trast trewly.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 1259. O trust, O feith, O depe asseuraunce!
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess., II. xxix. It is as naturall in men to purchase hope as assurance.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 183. But yet Ile make assurance double sure, And take a Bond of Fate.
1843. Mill, Logic, II. vi. § 3. We can have full assurance of particular results.
a. 1842. Tennyson, Two Voices, 315. The doubt would rest, I dare not solve … Assurance only breeds resolve.
b. in Theol. (See quot.)
1651. C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., I. 251. The Doctrine of Protestants concerning assurance of salvation … viz. that a man may have this assurance.
1852. Sir W. Hamilton, Disc. (1853), 508. Assurance, Personal Assurance, Special Faith, (the feeling of certainty that God is propitious to me,—that my sins are forgiven).
9. Self-confidence, self-reliance; confidence of manner, steadiness, intrepidity.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 263. Assurance is a certaine perswasion … whereby wee are confirmed in danger against euilles that threaten vs.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 72. Jaques … with his Flemings, received the charge with great assurance.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Rom. Hist. (1827), II. 352. To inspire him with a noble assurance so necessary for those that are born to command.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 147, ¶ 8. The benefits of publick education, and the happiness of an assurance early acquired.
10. In a bad sense: Hardihood, audacity, presumption, impudence.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 281. Quote Authors they had never read, with an Air of Assurance.
1709. Swift, Vind. Bickerstaff, Wks. 1755, II. I. 174. Several of my friends had the assurance to ask me, whether I was in jest?
1771. Junius Lett., lxiii. 323. The barrister has not the assurance to deny it flatly.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, ii. 23. I should like to know where you picked up so much assurance.
