1. A contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term. Often used in the plural.
2. 1. A document in duplicate having indented edges.
   2. A deed or legal contract executed between two or more parties.
   3. An official or authenticated inventory, list, or voucher.
3. Indentation.

1. To bind into the service of another by indenture.
2. Archaic. To form a small depression in (a surface).

[Middle English endenture, a written agreement, from Anglo-Norman, from endenter, to indent (from the matching notches on multiple copies of the documents). See indent¹.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.