pawnbroker

/ˌpɔnˈbroʊkər/

Other forms: pawnbrokers

A pawnbroker is someone who owns a shop that loans people money in exchange for valuable items. If you want to hock your engagement ring, head to a pawnbroker!

If you pawn your bike at a pawnbroker's shop (also called a pawnshop), you will leave with cash, but not quite as much as your bike is worth. To get it back, you'll have to pay back the money plus interest — and if you don't, the pawnbroker will eventually sell your bike to someone else. To pawn is to "give an object as security in exchange for money," and a broker is a "seller of other people's goods."

Definitions of pawnbroker

1. noun

   a person who lends money at interest in exchange for personal property that is deposited as security
   type of:

   lender, loaner

   someone who lends money or gives credit in business matters

   pledgee

   someone to whom a pledge is made or someone with whom something is deposited as a pledge