To assure the payment of a debt or the performance of an obligation; to provide security.
A debtor "secures" a creditor by giving him or her a lien, mortgage, or other security to be used in case the debtor fails to make payment.
TO SECURE. To protect, insure, or save a right.
2. The constitution of the United States, art. 1, s. 8, gives power to
congress "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by
securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors the exclusive right to
their respective writings and discoveries." The inventor of a machine has
the right to it exclusively at common law, and the author a right to his
manuscript. But they may abandon the, right by publishing the book without
having secured a copyright, (q.v.) or by using publicly the machine, and
suffering others to use it, without having obtained a patent. (q.v.) Vide
Secret.