noun. In civil law, an agreement by which the debtor gives his creditor the use of land or (formerly) slaves, in order thereby to pay the interest and principal of his debt.

"In perception of fruits the severance or taking of revenue might be by the owner or by another, as by the usufructuary, the lessee (in locatio-conductio), by the creditor (in antichresis), and by the possessor in good faith."