distrain
verbUK /dɪˈstɹeɪn/ · US /di-ˈstrān/
Etymology From Middle English distreynen, from Old French destraindre, from Latin distringō (“to pull asunder”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).
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
- to distrain a person by his goods and chattels
3
Law 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:
- Synonyms
- distress
- Derived terms
- distrainable, distrainee, distrainer, distrainment, distrainor, distraint, undistrained