Definition of "letter of credit" [letter of credit]

• A letter issued by a bank authorizing the bearer to draw a stated amount of money from the issuing bank, its branches, or other associated banks or agencies. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The letter of credit was held up for weeks on such technicalities as the port of entry specified by Embanac as Managua having no access to the ocean."
• "He got funds from Joyce Thurburn & Co. and, via the efforts of the Sardinian ambassador at London, a letter of credit from Lord Palmerston."
• "He reported that he left Paris on the 25th, when anxiety prevailed there as to the feelings with which I viewed the events of the 18th He was the bearer of a sort of circular from General Augereau to all the generals of division; and he brought a letter of credit from the Minister of War to the commissary-general, authorising him to draw as much money as he might require for his journey."