Asset-Backed Security - ABS

If Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj worked as bouncers. Also, a term designating a particular type of debt instruments.
Debt instruments are just ways that companies borrow money without going to a bank. Basically, the company issues bonds or notes that are purchased by investors and can then trade on exchanges in a similar fashion to stocks. Unlike stocks, however, people holding a company's notes don't have any stake in the firm. They are lenders, getting their return on interest rates charged on the debt.
Many times, these notes are unsecured, meaning that they are basically just I.O.U.s - a promise to pay back the money, but with no direct recourse for noteholders if the securities go into default. Sometimes, though, the company provides a little more assurance by backing the securities with some assets.
Typically, the assets involved are financial in nature, things like credit card or car loan receipts. One unusual real-life example: there was a type of note popularly called "Bowie Bonds," which were backed by royalties from David Bowie's music. What could be safer than securities backed by musical tales of androgynous aliens from Mars?