assurance

plural assurances · alternative obsolete assuraunce

1. countableuncountableThe act of assuring; a declaration intended to inspire full confidence; something designed to give confidence to someone.

   Assurances of support came pouring in daily.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter IX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

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   Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 17:31

   Madam, it has been represented to me that you are appalled by my exalted rank. I desire to convey to you officially my assurance, that if your hesitation is attributable to that circumstance, it is uncalled for.

   1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, H.M.S. Pinafore; […], San Francisco: Bacon & Company, […], →OCLC

2. countableuncountableThe state of being assured; total confidence or trust; a lack of doubt; certainty; guarantee.

   Let us draw with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 10:22

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   The storm took countless lives and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their communities with no assurance of returning soon.

   2005 September 10, George W. Bush, Presidential Radio Address

3. countableuncountableFirmness of mind; undoubting steadiness; intrepidity, courage, or self-confidence.

   the affairs of the Tarkish camp together with assurance

   1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC

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   Conversation, when they come into the world, soon gives them a becoming assurance

   1693, [John Locke], “§70”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC

   This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.[…]His air, of self-confident assurance, seemed that of a man well used to having his own way.

   1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   "Oh, that wouldn't make any difference," Benny replied with great assurance as he started to go out again.

   1924, Gertrude Chandler Warner, sectionTrouble^([The Box-Car Children])

4. countableuncountableExcessive boldness; impudence; audacity

   His assurance is intolerable.

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   You confined to the society of the illiterate and vulgar all your life! I wonder how the young man could have the assurance to ask it. He must have a pretty good opinion of himself.

   1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 7

5. countableobsoleteuncountableBetrothal; affiance.
6. countableuncountablebusinessInsurance; a contract for the payment of a sum on occasion of a certain event, as loss or death. Assurance is used in relation to life contingencies, and insurance in relation to other contingencies. It is called temporary assurance, in the time within which the contingent event must happen is limited.
7. countableuncountablelawAny written or other legal evidence of the conveyance of property; a conveyance; a deed.

   the legal evidences of the conveyance of property are called the common assurances of the kingdom.

   1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC

8. countableuncountablelifestyleSubjective certainty of one's salvation.