pawn
/pɔːn/ nounDefinition
› [C] a person or organization that does not have any real power, but is used by others to achieve something: a pawn in sth The federal jury rejected the company's defense that they were an unwitting pawn in the scheme to sell confidential documents.
in pawn › left with a pawnbroker (= someone who lends money in exchange for valuable possessions): If a pawn shop loans $50 on a gold necklace, they might charge $5 to keep the necklace in pawn for each month.
out of pawn › no longer with a pawnbroker (= someone who lends money in exchange for valuable possessions): She had pawned the ring, and couldn't get it out of pawn until the Saturday.
(Definition of pawn noun from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary
© Cambridge University Press)
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