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Distrain   Listen
verb
Distrain  v. t.  (past & past part. distrained; pres. part. distraining)  
1.
To press heavily upon; to bear down upon with violence; hence, to constrain or compel; to bind; to distress, torment, or afflict. (Obs.) "Distrained with chains."
2.
To rend; to tear. (Obs.) "Neither guile nor force might it (a net) distrain."
3.
(Law)
(a)
To seize, as a pledge or indemnification; to take possession of as security for nonpayment of rent, the reparation of an injury done, etc.; to take by distress; as, to distrain goods for rent, or of an amercement.
(b)
To subject to distress; to coerce; as, to distrain a person by his goods and chattels.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Distrain" Quotes from Famous Books



... searched many full strange places, and have been in many a full good honorable company, and at many a fair deed of arms (albeit that I did none myself, for mine unable insuffisance), now I am come home, in spite of myself, to rest, for gouts arthritic that me distrain, that define the end of my labor; against ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume III (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland I • Francis W. Halsey
... by repeating. 'No, thanks.' And he added: 'The funny part of it all is, that Naudet is suing Fagerolles. Oh, quite so! he's going to distrain on him. Ah! it makes me laugh! We shall see a pretty scouring in the Avenue de Villiers among all those petty painters with mansions of their own. House property will go for nothing next spring! Well, Naudet, who had compelled ...
— His Masterpiece • Emile Zola
... "A man cannot distrain for rent or rent-charge in the night (which, according to the author of The Mirror, is after sunset and before sunrising)."—Impey on Distress ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 207, October 15, 1853 • Various
... twenty-five per cent. reduction, and do very well by accepting it. But they are constrained into a hostile attitude by the tenants who are in arrears, some of them for several years (as, for example, Father Coen), although I find, to my astonishment, that in Ireland the landlord has no power to distrain for more than a twelvemonth's rent, no matter how far back ...
— Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (2 of 2) (1888) • William Henry Hurlbert
... I were to say to you: my dear friend, I have fallen into quite an awkward predicament and to-day or to-morrow they will distrain upon me for ...
— The Poor Plutocrats • Maurus Jokai


Words linked to "Distrain" :   confiscate, levy, seize, impound, reclaim, impose, attach


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