Noah Webster
Debt
DEBT, noun det. [Latin debitum, contracted.]
1. That which is due from one person to another, whether money, goods, or services; that which one person is bound to pay or perform to another; as the debts of a bankrupt; the debts of a nobleman. It is a common misfortune or vice to be in debt
When you run in debt you give to another power over your liberty.
2. That which any one is obliged to do or to suffer.
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt
Hence death is called the debt of nature.
3. In law, an action to recover a debt This is a customary ellipsis. He brought debt instead of an action of debt
4. In scripture, sin; trespass; guilt; crime; that which renders liable to punishment.
Forgive us our debts. Lord's Prayer.