noun
- Plural of bottomry; a maritime contract in which a ship or its cargo is pledged as security for a loan, with the lender assuming the risk of loss at sea.
Usage: nautical; legal; historical
Examples
- The merchant arranged several bottomries to finance his trading voyages across the Atlantic.
- In the age of sail, bottomries were common financial instruments for shipowners seeking capital.
- The insurance and bottomries markets developed together in maritime commerce.
- Bottomries allowed lenders to profit from high-risk sea voyages with correspondingly high interest rates.