distraint
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of distraint
1720–30; distrain + -t, modeled on constraint, restraint
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I have now been threatened with "enforcement by distraint" as I am currently unable to pay the outstanding bill, which means they will take my car and computers.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 28, 2012
An unwarranted seizure for debt was fined, as was the distraint of a working ox.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" by Various
An innkeeper of that town with whom the prince had lodged put a distraint on certain jewels and other objects.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Bartholomew Sastrow
If a man has taken an ox on distraint, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver.
From The Oldest Code of Laws in the World The code of laws promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon B.C. 2285-2242 by C. H. W. (Claude Hermann Walter) Johns
Father once apologised to me—that was when there was a distraint out against him, if you know what that is—because he wasn't rich.
From The Story of Louie by Oliver [pseud.] Onions
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
