Sequester SEQUES'TER, v.t. [L. sequestro, to sever or separate, to put int the hands of and indifferent person, as a deposit; sequester, belonging to mediation or umpirage, and as a noun an umpire, referee, midiator. This word is probably a compound of se and the root of quaestus, quaesitus, sought. See Question.]
1. To separate from the owner for a time; to seize or take possession of some property which belongs to another, and hold it tillthe profits hve paid the demand for which it is taken.
Formerly the goods of a defendant in chancery, were, in the last resort, sequestered and detained to enforce the degrees of the court. and now the profits of a benefice are sequestered to pay the debts of the ecclesiastecs. Blackstone.
2. To take from parties in controversy and put into the possession of an indiffernt person.
3. To put aside; to remove; to separate; frome other things.
I had wholly sequestered my civil affairs. Bacon.
4. To sequester one's self, to separate one's self from seciety; to withdraw or retire; to seclude one's self for the sake of privacy or solitude; as, to sequester one's self from action.
5. To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity.
It was his taylor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts which sequestered him. South.
SEQUES'TER, v. i. To decline, as a window, any concern with the estate of a husband.

sequester v 1: requisition forcibly, as of enemy property; "the estate was sequestered" 2: take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority; "The FBI seized the drugs"; "The customs agents impounded the illegal shipment"; "The police confiscated the stolen artwork" [syn: impound, attach, sequester, confiscate, seize] 3: undergo sequestration by forming a stable compound with an ion; "The cations were sequestered" 4: keep away from others; "He sequestered himself in his study to write a book" [syn: seclude, sequester, sequestrate, withdraw] 5: set apart from others; "The dentist sequesters the tooth he is working on" [syn: sequester, sequestrate, keep apart}, set apart, isolate]

sequester O.E. scitan, from P.Gmc. *skit-, from PIE *skheid- "split, divide, separate." Related to shed (v.) on the notion of "separation" from the body (cf. L. excrementum, from excernere "to separate"). The noun is O.E. scitte "purging;" sense of "excrement" dates from 1585, from the verb. Extensive slang usage; meaning "to lie" is from 1934; that of "to disrespect" is from 1903; used for "obnoxious person" since at least 1508. Shat is a humorous past tense form, not etymological, from 18c. Shit-faced "drunk" is 1960s student slang; shit list is from 1942.

sequester I. transitive verb (-tered; sequestering) Etymology: Middle English sequestren, from Anglo-French sequestrer, from Latin sequestrare to hand over to a trustee, from sequester third party to whom disputed property is entrusted, agent, from secus beside, otherwise; akin to Latin sequi to follow Date: 14th century 1. a. to set apart ; segregate <sequester a jury> b. seclude, withdraw <widely spaced homes are forbiddingly grand and sequestered — Don Asher> 2. a. to seize especially by a writ of sequestration b. to place (property) in custody especially in sequestration 3. to hold (as a metallic ion) in solution usually by inclusion in an appropriate coordination complex II. noun Date: 1604 obsolete separation, isolation

sequester
v.tr.
1 (esp. as sequestered adj.) seclude, isolate, set apart (sequester oneself from the world; a sequestered life; a sequestered cottage).
2 = SEQUESTRATE.
3 Chem. bind (a metal ion) so that it cannot react.
Etymology: ME f. OF sequestrer or LL sequestrare commit for safe keeping f. L sequester trustee

sequester (sequesters, sequestering, sequestered) 1. Sequester means the same as sequestrate. (LEGAL) Everything he owned was sequestered. VERB: be V-ed, also V n 2. If someone is sequestered somewhere, they are isolated from other people. (FORMAL) This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months. VERB: be V-ed

sequester sɪˈkwestə v.tr. 1 (esp. as sequestered adj.) seclude, isolate, set apart (sequester oneself from the world; a sequestered life; a sequestered cottage). 2 = SEQUESTRATE. 3 Chem. bind (a metal ion) so that it cannot react. [ME f. OF sequestrer or LL sequestrare commit for safe keeping f. L sequester trustee]

Sequester \Se*ques"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sequestered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sequestering.] [F. s['e]questrer, L. sequestrare to give up for safe keeping, from sequester a depositary or trustee in whose hands the thing contested was placed until the dispute was settled. Cf. Sequestrate.] 1. (Law) To separate from the owner for a time; to take from parties in controversy and put into the possession of an indifferent person; to seize or take possession of, as property belonging to another, and hold it till the profits have paid the demand for which it is taken, or till the owner has performed the decree of court, or clears himself of contempt; in international law, to confiscate. Formerly the goods of a defendant in chancery were, in the last resort, sequestered and detained to enforce the decrees of the court. And now the profits of a benefice are sequestered to pay the debts of ecclesiastics. --Blackstone. 2. To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc. It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him. --South. 3. To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things. I had wholly sequestered my civil affairss. --Bacon. 4. To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity; to seclude; to withdraw; -- often used reflexively. When men most sequester themselves from action. --Hooker. A love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation. --Bacon.

Sequester \Se*ques"ter\, v. i. 1. To withdraw; to retire. [Obs.] To sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics. --Milton. 2. (Law) To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.

Sequester \Se*ques"ter\, n. 1. Sequestration; separation. [R.] 2. (Law) A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a mediator; an umpire or referee. --Bouvier. 3. (Med.) Same as Sequestrum.

sequester v. a. 1. Separate, set aside, sequestrate. 2. Remove, put aside, separate, set apart. 3. Withdraw, seclude, retire.

75 Moby Thesaurus words for "sequester": abrupt, accroach, alienate, annex, arrogate, attach, cast off, cast out, cloister, close off, collectivize, commandeer, communalize, communize, confiscate, cut adrift, cut off, cut out, delete, depart, disarticulate, disconnect, disengage, disjoin, disjoint, dispossess, dissociate, distrain, disunite, divide, divorce, eject, enisle, estrange, expel, expropriate, garnish, hide, impound, impress, insulate, island, isolate, leave, levy, nationalize, part, preempt, press, pull away, pull back, pull out, replevin, replevy, secrete, segregate, seize, separate, sequestrate, set apart, set aside, shut off, socialize, split, stand aloof, stand apart, stand aside, step aside, subtract, take, throw off, throw out, uncouple, unyoke, withdraw

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