Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Recognizance

Re·cog′ni·zance (rē·kŏg′nĭ·zans or rē·kŏn′ĭ-), n. [F. reconnaissance, OF. recognoissance, fr. recognoissant, p. pr. of recognoistre to recognize, F. reconnaître, fr. L. recognoscere; pref. re- re- + cognoscere to know. See Cognizance, Know, and cf. Recognize, Reconnoissance.] [Written also recognisance.] 1. (Law) (a) An obligation of record entered into before some court of record or magistrate duly authorized, with condition to do some particular act, as to appear at the same or some other court, to keep the peace, or pay a debt. A recognizance differs from a bond, being witnessed by the record only, and not by the party's seal. (b) The verdict of a jury impaneled upon assize. Cowell.

☞ Among lawyers the g in this and the related words (except recognize) is usually silent.

2. A token; a symbol; a pledge; a badge.

That recognizance and pledge of love Which I first gave her. Shak.

3. Acknowledgment of a person or thing; avowal; profession; recognition.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.