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Distrain

//dɪˈstɹeɪn// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To squeeze, press, embrace; to constrain, oppress. obsolete

    "But when he heard her answeres loth, he knew / Some secret sorrow did her heart distraine […]"

  2. 2
    legally take something in place of a debt payment wordnet
  3. 3
    To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property. obsolete, transitive

    "to distrain a person by his goods and chattels"

  4. 4
    confiscate by distress wordnet
  5. 5
    To seize somebody's property in place of, or to force, payment of a debt. intransitive
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  1. 6
    levy a distress on wordnet
  2. 7
    To pull off, tear apart. obsolete

    "For that same net so cunningly was wound, / That neither guile, nor force might it distraine."

Etymology

From Middle English distreynen, from Old French destraindre, from Latin distringō (“to pull asunder”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).

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