distraint

[dih-streynt]

noun Law.

the act of distraining; a distress.

Origin of distraint

1720–30; distrain + -t, modeled on constraint, restraint

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for distraint

Historical Examples of distraint

Oh, it's very simple; a judgment and then a distraint—that's about it!
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert
At Michaelmas, 1817, the Duke of Somerset had made a distraint for rent.
The Canadian Portrait Gallery Volume 3
John Charles Dent
On the house and property a distraint had been levied for moneys due which had not been paid.
Balzac
Frederick Lawton
Distrain′ment; Distrain′or, Distrain′er; Distraint′, seizure of goods.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)
Various
This morning a letter has arrived, threatening a distraint upon our goods unless a large sum of money be paid by to-morrow.
The Idol of The Blind
Tom Gallon

British Dictionary definitions for distraint

distraint

noun

law the act or process of distraining; distress

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012