'Chattel mortgage' definitions:

Definition of 'chattel mortgage'

noun

A loan to buy some personal item; the item (or chattel) is security for the loan

From: GCIDE

Mortgage \Mort"gage\ (m[^o]r"g[asl]j; 48), n. [F. mort-gage; mort dead (L. mortuus) + gage pledge. See Mortal, and Gage.]
1. (Law) A conveyance of property, upon condition, as security for the payment of a debt or the preformance of a duty, and to become void upon payment or performance according to the stipulated terms; also, the written instrument by which the conveyance is made. [1913 Webster]
Note: It was called a mortgage (or dead pledge) because, whatever profit it might yield, it did not thereby redeem itself, but became lost or dead to the mortgager upon breach of the condition. But in equity a right of redemption is an inseparable incident of a mortgage until the mortgager is debarred by his own laches, or by judicial decree. --Cowell. --Kent. [1913 Webster]
2. State of being pledged; as, lands given in mortgage. [1913 Webster]
Chattel mortgage. See under Chattel.
To foreclose a mortgage. See under Foreclose.
Mortgage deed (Law), a deed given by way of mortgage. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Chattel \Chat"tel\, n. [OF. chatel; another form of catel. See Cattle.] (Law) Any item of movable or immovable property except the freehold, or the things which are parcel of it. It is a more extensive term than goods or effects. [1913 Webster]
Note: Chattels are personal or real: personal are such as are movable, as goods, plate, money; real are such rights in land as are less than a freehold, as leases, mortgages, growing corn, etc. [1913 Webster]
Chattel mortgage (Law), a mortgage on personal property, as distinguished from one on real property. [1913 Webster]