Lien
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A tendon. obsolete
- 2 The spleen. obsolete, possibly, uncommon
"Li'enal. Pertaining to the lien or spleen; splenic."
- 3 a large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells involved in immune responses wordnet
- 4 A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged.
"[…] every youth movement presents itself as loan to the future, and tries to call in its lien in advance, but when there is no future all loans are canceled."
- 5 the right to take another's property if an obligation is not discharged wordnet
- 1 Alternative form of lain. alt-of, alternative, archaic
"And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done vnto vs? one of the people might lightly haue lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest haue brought guiltinesse vpon vs.”"
Example
More examples"In law, a lien is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French lien, from Latin ligāmen (“a bond”), from ligō (“tie, bind”).
Borrowed from Latin liēn (“spleen”). Doublet of spleen.
Related phrases
More for "lien"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.