foreclose
verbUK /fɔːˈkləʊz/ · CA, US /fɔɹˈkloʊz/
Etymology Partially from Middle English foreclosen, forclosen, from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore (“to exclude”), from for- (“(prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy)”) + clore (“to shut”), and partially from Middle English forclusen (“to close up”), from Old English forclȳsan (“to close up”), equivalent to fore- + close.
1
Law To repossess a mortgaged property whose owner has failed to make the necessary payments; used with on.
- They have to move out of their house because the bank foreclosed on their mortgage.
2
Law To cut off (a mortgager) by a judgment of court from the power of redeeming the mortgaged premises.
3
To shut up or out; to prevent from doing something.
- The embargo with Spain foreclosed this trade.1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC:
- One of the paradoxes of Ostpolitik, as practiced by Brandt and his successors, was that by transferring large sums of hard currency into East Germany and showering the GDR with recognition, attention, and support, West German officials unintentionally foreclosed any chance of internal change, including reform of Eastern Germany’s polluted, antiquated industrial economy.2005, Tony Judt, “The Power of the Powerless”, in Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:
1 more example
- to foreclose the possibility completely. she packed the footwell of the passenger seat with her duffel bag and camping gear and buckled a stack of seed trays on to the seat.2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 55:
- Derived terms
- foreclosee, forecloser, foreclosure, foreclosable