Dictionary

distrain en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /dɪˈstɹeɪn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /di-ˈstrān/ (General-American)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (obsolete) To squeeze, press, embrace; to constrain, oppress.
   • But when he heard her answeres loth, he knew / Some secret sorrow did her heart distraine […] 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
   • Thus spake the Prince, and gently 'gan distrain / Now him, now her, between his friendly arms. 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XII, xii
2. (obsolete, transitive) To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property.
   • to distrain a person by his goods and chattels
3. (intransitive) To seize somebody's property in place of, or to force, payment of a debt.
4. (obsolete) To pull off, tear apart.
   • For that same net so cunningly was wound, / That neither guile, nor force might it distraine. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

distrainee · distrainment · distrainor · distrainer · distraint · undistrained · distrainable

Synonyms

distress (to seize somebody's property in place of, or to force payment of a debt)

Translations (9)

hu zár alá vesz (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt) · pl anektować (To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property) · sv utmäta (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt) · hu végrehajt (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt) · hu zálogol (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt) · de pfänden (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt) · hu lefoglal (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt) · pl zaanektować (To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property) · bg налагам запор (To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt)