ˌsēkwə̇ˈstrāshən, (ˌ)sēˌkweˈs-, sə̇ˌkweˈs-, ˌsekwə̇ˈs- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English sequestracion, from Late Latin sequestration-, sequestratio, from sequestratus (past participle of sequestrare to remove, separate) + -ion-, -io -ion — more at sequester
1.
a. : an act or instance of cutting off : exclusion , separation
forced into retirement by parliamentary sequestration — Douglas Bush
b. : the quality or state of being sequestered : isolation , seclusion
lonely sequestration on an island — Time
2. : the separation or removal of property from a person in possession of it in order that the property or the proceeds thereof may be dealt with as a court or other competent authority may direct: as
a. : the authorization of a sheriff or commissioners to take into custody the property of a defendant who is in contempt or its rents and profits until he complies with the orders of a court
b. English eccl law : an attachment of a vacant benefice usually granted by a bishop to church wardens for the management of its offices during the vacancy
c. civil law : a deposit whereby a neutral depositary agrees to hold property in litigation and to restore it to the party to whom it is adjudged to belong
d. Scots law : the appropriation of the property of a bankrupt in order to divide it among his creditors
e. international law : the seizure of the property of an individual for use by the state ; especially : the seizure by a belligerent power of debts due from its subjects to the enemy or of property subject to the right of preemption
f. probate law : the subjection of a renounced interest to judicial management for distribution as the testator would have desired if he had had in mind the renunciation of the interest he tried to create
3. : a seizure of property especially by public authority : confiscation
the taxation and sequestration he suffered during and after the Civil War … brought him into debt — J.B.Leishman
4. : the formation of a sequestrum
5. : the process of sequestering or result of being sequestered
in soils various minor elements such as copper, zinc, and manganese are applied in organic complex sequestration form so as to be kept from the normal precipitation reaction in soils — M.L.Jackson