REDEEM. (ri'di:m). v.t. 1. to buy or pay off; clear by payment: to redeem a mortgage. 2. to buy back, as after a tax sale or a mortgage foreclosure. 3. to recover (something pledged or mortgaged) by payment or other satisfaction: to redeem a pawned watch. 4. to convert (paper money) into specie. 5. to discharge or fulfill (a pledge, promise, etc.). 6. to make up for; make amends for; offset (some fault, shortcoming, etc.): His bravery redeemed his youthful idleness. 7. to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom. 8. Theol. to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner. [ME redem(en) < MF redim(er) < L redimere, equiv. to red- RE + imere to buy, var. of emere to purchase]
—Syn. 1, 2, 7, 8, repurchase; free, liberate, rescue, save. REDEEM, RANSOM mean literally to buy back. REDEEM is wider in its application than RANSOM,
and means to buy back, regain possession, or improve the condition of
anything; as by money, endeavor, devotion, sacrifice, or the like: to redeem one's property. To RANSOM is to redeem a person from captivity by paying a stipulated price, or to redeem from sin by sacrifice: to ransom a kidnapped child. —Ant. 1. abandon.
Redeem Time Past by William Drummond.
(From Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language).
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