bankrupt

Etymology

Partial calque of Italian banca rotta, which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken. When a moneylender in Northern Italy became insolvent, they would break the bench they worked from to signify that they were no longer in business. (Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiano 1907)

adj

1. (finance) In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay one's debts.
   a bankrupt merchant
   "How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, page 141
2. Having been legally declared insolvent.
3. Destitute of, or wholly lacking (something once possessed, or something one should possess).
   a morally bankrupt politician
   bankrupt in gratitude 1715, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals

verb

1. (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.

noun

1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person.
2. (UK, law, obsolete) A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.