anaconda mortgage

Definitions

A loan arrangement in which all of the money borrowed from a lender, for whatever purpose, is secured by one's home, land, and other property.

Southern, US, dated, idiomatic

Examples

“[I]t was not given to the prophet Isaiah even, to look⟳ down the vista of time for 2,500 years and read⟳ the Statutes of Arkansas. Under them every man who executes an anaconda mortgage is considered to plant⟳ and eat⟳ not; for them the heavens might as well be brass and the earth iron⟳.”

“Furthermore, the merchants soon discovered the Anaconda mortgage, which forced the owner to back up his crop lien with everything he owned — land⟳, money, and personal property.”

“In 1883 Alabama established the "Anaconda" mortgage, which "gave the landlord the right to take⟳ not only his tenant's crop . . . but also his furniture, household goods, and personal effects," again with primacy over merchant claims.”

CEFR level