Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

I O U

I O U (ī" ō" ū")

[phonetic, from I owe you.]

A paper having on it these letters, with a sum named, and duly signed; -- in use in England as an acknowledgment of a debt, and taken as evidence thereof, but not amounting to a promissory note; a due bill. — Wharton

Also: I.O.U