trust: Meaning and Definition of

trust

Pronunciation: (trust), [key]
— n.
  1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
  2. confident expectation of something; hope.
  3. confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.
  4. a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.
  5. the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted.
  6. the obligation or responsibility imposed on a person in whom confidence or authority is placed: a position of trust.
  7. charge, custody, or care: to leave valuables in someone's trust.
  8. something committed or entrusted to one's care for use or safekeeping, as an office, duty, or the like; responsibility; charge.
    1. a fiduciary relationship in which one person (the trustee) holds the title to property (the trust estate or trust property) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
    2. the property or funds so held.
    1. an illegal combination of industrial or commercial companies in which the stock of the constituent companies is controlled by a central board of trustees, thus making it possible to manage the companies so as to minimize production costs, control prices, eliminate competition, etc.
    2. any large industrial or commercial corporation or combination having a monopolistic or semimonopolistic control over the production of some commodity or service.
  9. reliability.
  10. in the position of being left in the care or guardianship of another: She left money to her uncle to keep in trust for her children.
—adj.
  1. of or pertaining to trusts or a trust.
—v.i.
  1. to rely upon or place confidence in someone or something (usually fol. by in or to): to trust in another's honesty; trusting to luck.
  2. to have confidence; hope: Things work out if one only trusts.
  3. to sell merchandise on credit.
—v.t.
  1. to have trust or confidence in; rely or depend on.
  2. to believe.
  3. to expect confidently; hope (usually fol. by a clause or infinitive as object): trusting the job would soon be finished; trusting to find oil on the land.
  4. to commit or consign with trust or confidence.
  5. to permit to remain or go somewhere or to do something without fear of consequences: He does not trust his children out of his sight.
  6. to invest with a trust; entrust with something.
  7. to give credit to (a person) for goods, services, etc., supplied: Will you trust us till payday?
  8. to rely on; trust: Never trust to luck!
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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