property or something valuable that you promise to give to somebody if you cannot pay back money that you borrow 抵押物;担保品 We had put our house up as collateral for our bank loan. 我们把房子作为银行贷款的抵押。
Word Originlate Middle English (as an adjective): from medieval Latin collateralis, from col- ‘together with’ + lateralis (from latus, later- ‘side’). Sense (1) of the noun (originally US) is from the phrase collateral security, denoting something pledged in addition to the main obligation of a contract.