[bank.rupt] n [modif. of MF & OIt; MF banqueroute bankruptcy, fr. OIt bancarotta, fr. banca bank + rotta broken, fr. L rupta, fem. of ruptus, pp. of rumpere to break--more at bank, reave] (1533) 1 a: a person who has done any of the acts that by law entitle his creditors to have his estate administered for their benefit b: a person judicially declared subject to having his estate administered under the bankrupt laws for the benefit of his creditors c: a person who becomes insolvent
2: one who is destitute of a particular thing "a moral ~"
[2]bankrupt adj (1570) 1 a: reduced to a state of financial ruin: impoverished; specif: legally declared a bankrupt "the company went ~" b: of or relating to bankrupts or bankruptcy "~ laws"
2. a: broken, ruined "a ~ professional career" b: exhausted of valuable qualities: sterile "a ~ old culture" c: destitute--used with of or in "~ of all merciful feelings" [3]bankrupt vt (1588) 1: to reduce to bankruptcy
2: impoverish "defections had ~ed the party of its brainpower" syn see deplete