escrow

Etymology

From Middle English escrowe, ascrowe (“escrow”), from Old French escroe, escroue (“scroll, strip of parchment”), which has given écrou, from Frankish *skrōda (“a shred”). Doublet of scroll and shred.

noun

1. (law) A written instrument, such as a deed, temporarily deposited with a neutral third party (the escrow agent), by the agreement of two parties to a valid contract. The escrow agent will deliver the document to the benefited party when the conditions of the contract have been met. The depositor has no control over the instrument in escrow.
2. (law) In common law, escrow applied to the deposits only of instruments for conveyance of land, but it now applies to all instruments so deposited.
3. (law) Money or other property so deposited is also loosely referred to as escrow.
4. The state of property deposited with an escrow agent.
   The court will decide which party is the rightful owner of the items in escrow. 2006, Kathryn J Haupt, Principles of California Real Estate, page 305
   “Well, Dominic,” Della suddenly chimed in. “Seeing as this place of yours is still under escrow, seems to me it's not really yours yet, is it?” 2012, Madison Lake, Jade Lake, Salon Antics, page 22

verb

1. To place in escrow.
   The regulators suggest that in underwriting these loans, lenders be required to take into account the ability of the borrowers to make monthly payments at the higher rates and also property taxes and homeowners insurance, which are often not escrowed monthly in subprime loans. March 3, 2007, Vikas Bajaj, “U.S. Urges Lenders to Revise Standards on Granting Credit”, in New York Times