distraint Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim
    distress.
    • Originally distress was a landlord's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien

WordNet

Dis*traint" noun
Etymology
OF. destrainte distress, force.
Definitions
  1. (Law) The act or proceeding of seizing personal property by distress. Abbott.

Webster 1913