tontine

Definition

A form of investment in which, on the death of an investor, his share is divided amongst the other investors.

Etymology

From French tontine, named after Lorenzo de Tonti, who introduced the scheme into France in around 1653. Thus, from Tonti + -ine.

Example Sentences

• "When Joseph Finsbury and his brother Masterman were little lads in white-frilled trousers, their father—a well-to-do merchant in Cheapside—caused them to join a small but rich tontine of seven-and-thirty lives."
• "There were many speculative schemes which gambled on the expectation of an individual's life, as in the tontine system, whereby all the group's contributions went to the last survivor."
• "They were pleasantly high, but in an almost self-conscious way, as if they were members of a tontine blessed by the unexpected death of two or three of its members."