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Definition of pawn : 1. A man or piece of the lowest rank.
2. A stake hazarded in a wager.
3. Anything delivered or deposited as security, as for the payment of money borrowed, or of a debt; a pledge. See Pledge, n., 1.
4. See Pan, the masticatory.
5. State of being pledged; a pledge for the fulfillment of a promise.
6. To give or deposit in pledge, or as security for the payment of money borrowed; to put in pawn; to pledge; as, to pawn one's watch.
7. To pledge for the fulfillment of a promise; to stake; to risk; to wager; to hazard.

Synonyms:

sop, sacrificial lamb, imbue, grand master, castle, intoxicate, hook, official document, legal document, victim, lay figure, pluck, chessman, check, musical instrument, puppet, co-opt, surcharge, toy, stooge, douse, hit it up, token, cat's-paw, cannon fodder, capture, security, dupe, soak, fool, warrant, souse, instrumental role, fleece, earnest, gambit, inebriate, leverage, pledge, chess, plume, tool, get off, instrument, borrow, rob, whipping boy, transactions, target, overcharge, bishop, gazump, guaranty, checkmate, run away with, hock, dowse, collateral, plaything, chessboard, legal instrument, take, drench, Cinderella

loan, lend, mortgage, sublet, lease, let, contribute, advance

hand, aide, aide-de-camp, agent, assistant, helpmate, employee, peon, deputy, flunky, menial, helper, laborer, henchman, serf, auxiliary, volunteer, lieutenant, vassal, servant, helping hand, underling, junior, subordinate, chattel, subject, help, aid, worker, slave

credit, debt

Usage examples:

• On this occasion he had arrived in very bad plight indeed: he had brought away from Cork nothing but what he could carry on his body, and had been forced to pawn what he could pawn in order that he might subsist And then he had been taken with ague, and with the fit strong on him had crawled away to Spinny Lane, and had there been nursed by the mother and daughter whom he had ill used, deserted, and betrayed. - "Castle Richmond", Anthony Trollope.
• Madam some I have, But not so serious to pawn my life for't: If you keep this quarter, and maintain about you Such Knights o'th' Sun as this is, to defie Men of imployment to ye, you may live, But in what fame? - "The Scornful Lady", Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher.
• She was called Cydalise, and, as will be seen, she was an important pawn in the game played by Ma'ame Nourrisson to defeat Madame Marneffe. - "Cousin Betty", Honore de Balzac.