indenture Look up indenture at Dictionary.com
"contract for services," c.1300, from Anglo-Fr. endenture, from O.Fr. endenteure "indentation," from endenter (see indent). Such contracts (especially between master craftsmen and apprentices) were written in full identical versions on a sheet of parchment, which was then cut apart in a zigzag, or "notched" line. Each party took one, and the genuineness of a document of indenture could be proved by juxtaposition with its counterpart.