Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - debt

~ n 1 a sum of money that you owe  (pay off/repay/clear your debts)  (He now had enough money to pay off his father's outstanding debts.) + of  (The company has debts of around $1,000,000.) run up a debt (=borrow money without paying it back on time.)  (students running up massive credit card debts) 2 the state of owing money  (He was imprisoned for debt. | be in debt (=owe money) | &200/$1000 etc in debt)  (She was still $600 in debt. | go/get/run/slip etc into debt (=spend so much money that you need to borrow money))  (Malone was sinking hopelessly into debt. | be heavily/deeply/up to your ears in debt (=owe a lot of money)) 3 your debt to sb the degree to which you have learned from or been influenced by someone else  (Marx's debt to earlier thinkers such as Hegel) 4 be in debt also owe a debt of gratitude to sb to be very grateful to someone for what they have done for you  (- see also bad debt, national debt)