Adjacent Words

distraint definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim; "Originally distress was a landlord's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien" [syn: distress, distraint]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: distrain + -t (as in constraint) Date: circa 1736 the act or action of distraining

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Law the seizure of chattels to make a person pay rent etc. or meet an obligation, or to obtain satisfaction by their sale. Etymology: DISTRAIN, after constraint

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Distraint Dis*traint", n. [OF. destrainte distress, force.] (Law) The act or proceeding of seizing personal property by distress. --Abbott.