SEQUESTER


Meaning of SEQUESTER in English

I. sə̇ˈkwestə(r), sēˈk- verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English sequestren, from Middle French sequestrer, from Late Latin sequestrare to set aside for safekeeping, surrender, remove, separate, from Latin sequester depositary, trustee; akin to Latin sequi to follow — more at sue

transitive verb

1.

a. : to set apart : separate for a special purpose : remove , segregate

the dentist must sequester with a rubber dam the tooth he is working on — New Yorker

b. obsolete : to deprive of membership (as in a church) or of public office or station

was sequestered from parliament — David Hume †1776

c. : to hide from public view : withdraw from circulation : seclude , secrete

old houses … sequestered under leafy boughs — American Guide Series: Vermont

no crusading idealist … ever thought it right to sequester himself in an estate — Norman Thomas

2.

a. : to seize especially by public authority : confiscate

police continued to uncover and sequester … arms and ammunition — R.G.Woolbert

b.

(1) : to take (property) from the possession of one or more parties to a controversy and put into the possession of a third party until profits have paid an obligation or until the owner has performed a decree of court or clears himself of contempt

(2) international law : to appropriate under the right of preemption

3. : to bind (as a metal or metal ion) in the form of a soluble complex or chelate by adding a suitable reagent for the purpose of preventing precipitation in water solution by chemical agents that would normally bring it about, of solubilizing precipitates already formed, or of otherwise suppressing undesired chemical or biological activity

sequester calcium and magnesium ions in the softening of hard water

intransitive verb

1. archaic : to withdraw into seclusion : retire

2. : to disclaim legal responsibility

II. noun

( -s )

Etymology: Latin

1. Roman & civil law : a depositary of property pending the settlement of a dispute as to its ownership : a receiver appointed by the court

2.

[French séquestre, from Latin sequestrum sequestration, deposit, from sequester depositary]

obsolete : separation

this hand of yours requires a sequester from liberty — Shakespeare

3.

[New Latin sequestrum ]

: sequestrum

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.