# Does to "lift a debt" means to forgive a debt or to settle a debt? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224 "2013-11-06T06:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/1 "2013-11-06T06:26:51Z")
Hi, Does to “lift a debt” means to forgive a debt or to settle a debt? I can’t find any definition for it, yet I’ve seen it used. I look forward to your feedback davidmich ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/2 "2013-11-06T07:38:53Z")
Here’s it seems to used to mean “forgive”" [http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/36110.html](http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/36110.html) “And as for what is the alternative, it is simple to release the countries from foreign intrusion and lift all debts on them. The children will slowly poor into schools and the countries will decide on a model best for them!” but what about here? [http://www.seykota.com/tribe/faq/2007\_Sep/11/Jurassic.pdf](http://www.seykota.com/tribe/faq/2007_Sep/11/Jurassic.pdf) " For a few years, these splendidly arcane software-spawned products prospered and proliferated, sucking up many hundreds of billions of dollars, euros, yen and Swiss francs. Then, investors discovered that the pricing models for US residential mortgages were based, in large measure, on the assumption of an endlessly rising tide that would lift all debts—and, it now appears, on Alan Greenspan’s assurance that interest rates wouldn’t rise." ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/3 "2013-11-06T07:46:56Z")
It seems to me to mean “forgive all debts” or :“cancel all debts”. [http://news.voicetv.co.th/in-english/22244.html](http://news.voicetv.co.th/in-english/22244.html) “In the case of death, the bank will lift all debts so that their families won’t have to carry the burden. So far, there’sbeen 32 such cases.” ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/4 "2013-11-06T08:43:02Z")
The phrase isn;t common, or terribly precise, so I suspect it’s meaning can be ambiguous. But, in general, a debt is an obligation, and an obligation is lifted the obligor ceases to be subject to it. This normally happens when (a) the obligation is cancelled by the person to whom it is owed, or (b) a third party takes it on themselves, so releasing the original obligor. I suppose you could say that an obligation is lifted when the obligor discharges it, though. (“I’ve made my last payment to the bank, and my mortgage is now lifted!”) So, basically, anything which results in the debtor no longer having any obligation to pay can be said to “lift” the debt. You’d have to look to the particular context in which the phrase is used to determine whether a particular kind of lifting, e.g. debt foregiveness, is intended. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/5 "2013-11-07T06:59:13Z")
Thanks UDS. I think you summed it up nicely. I think releasing someone of their obligation to pay (whichever form that takes) may be considered “lifting a debt”. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/6 "2013-11-07T16:34:51Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The phrase isn;t common, or terribly precise, so I suspect it’s meaning can be ambiguous. But, in general, a debt is an obligation, and an obligation is lifted the obligor ceases to be subject to it. This normally happens when (a) the obligation is cancelled by the person to whom it is owed, or (b) a third party takes it on themselves, so releasing the original obligor. I suppose you could say that an obligation is lifted when the obligor discharges it, though. (“I’ve made my last payment to the bank, and my mortgage is now lifted!”) > > So, basically, anything which results in the debtor no longer having any obligation to pay can be said to “lift” the debt. You’d have to look to the particular context in which the phrase is used to determine whether a particular kind of lifting, e.g. debt foregiveness, is intended. Exactly. my answer for the OP was going to be “yes”. The debt is a burden. If by some means, the burden is “lifted” from the shoulders of the debtor, they no longer carry the burden. They may have gradually paid it off, gotten a windfall or inheritance and paid it off, it may be forgiven, or someone else has assumed it. “Lifted” means “gone”, the debtor no longer has to worry about it. Unless the conext says how the debt was made “gone”, it could be anything. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/7 "2013-11-07T16:55:25Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > but what about here? > > [http://www.seykota.com/tribe/faq/2007\_Sep/11/Jurassic.pdf](http://www.seykota.com/tribe/faq/2007_Sep/11/Jurassic.pdf) > > " …an > endlessly rising tide that would lift all debts" This here usage is what we call a “pune” or “play on words.” It is not a standard usage of “lift a debt”, which I agree means to forgive or eliminate a debt without paying. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-to-lift-a-debt-means-to-forgive-a-debt-or-to-settle-a-debt/673224/8 "2013-11-07T18:51:46Z")
It may be nit-picking, but I would see the forgiveness etc. - rather than the debtor paying it off - if the verb were passive. “The burden of debt has been lifted from their shoulders…” as in the debtor did nothing active (like pay it off) but that the debt itself was removed through no action of theirs, through outside action.