• (n.) An obligation by which property of a debtor was made over to his creditor in security of his debt.
Inner half wall of a diatom cell.
Hy`po·the'ca noun [ Latin , from Greek ... a thing subject to some obligation, from ... to put under, put down, pledge. See Hypothesis .] (Rom. Law) An obligation by which property of a debtor was made over to his creditor in security of his debt. » It differed from pledge in ...