sequester definition | Dictionary.com

se⋅ques⋅ter

[si-kwes-ter]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude.

2.	to remove or separate.

3.	Law. to remove (property) temporarily from the possession of the owner; seize and hold, as the property and income of a debtor, until legal claims are satisfied.

4.	International Law. to requisition, hold, and control (enemy property).

Origin:
1350–1400; ME sequestren < L sequestrāre to put in hands of a trustee, deriv. of sequester trustee, depositary

Related forms:

se⋅ques⋅tra⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
1, 2. isolate.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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se·ques·ter (sĭ-kwěs'tər)

v. se·ques·tered, se·ques·ter·ing, se·ques·ters

v. tr.

To cause to withdraw into seclusion.
To remove or set apart; segregate. See Synonyms at isolate.
Law
1. To take temporary possession of (property) as security against legal claims.
2. To requisition and confiscate (enemy property).

v. intr. Chemistry
To undergo sequestration.

[Middle English sequestren, from Old French, from Latin sequestrāre, to give up for safekeeping, from Latin sequester, depositary, trustee; see sek^w-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sequester

Se*ques"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sequestered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sequestering.] [F. s['e]questrer, L. sequestrare to give up for safe keeping, from sequester a depositary or trustee in whose hands the thing contested was placed until the dispute was settled. Cf. Sequestrate.]

1. (Law) To separate from the owner for a time; to take from parties in controversy and put into the possession of an indifferent person; to seize or take possession of, as property belonging to another, and hold it till the profits have paid the demand for which it is taken, or till the owner has performed the decree of court, or clears himself of contempt; in international law, to confiscate.

Formerly the goods of a defendant in chancery were, in the last resort, sequestered and detained to enforce the decrees of the court. And now the profits of a benefice are sequestered to pay the debts of ecclesiastics. --Blackstone.

2. To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.

It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him. --South.

3. To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.

I had wholly sequestered my civil affairss. --Bacon.

4. To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity; to seclude; to withdraw; -- often used reflexively.

When men most sequester themselves from action. --Hooker.

A love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation. --Bacon.

Sequester

Se*ques"ter\, v. i. 1. To withdraw; to retire. [Obs.]

To sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics. --Milton.

2. (Law) To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.

Sequester

Se*ques"ter\, n. 1. Sequestration; separation. [R.]

2. (Law) A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a mediator; an umpire or referee. --Bouvier.

3. (Med.) Same as Sequestrum.

sequester

c.1380, from O.Fr. sequestrer (14c.), from L.L. sequestrare "to place in safekeeping," from L. sequester "trustee, mediator," probably originally "follower," related to sequi "to follow" (see sequel). Meaning "seize by authority, confiscate" is first attested 1513.

Main Entry: se·ques·ter
Pronunciation: si-'kwes-t&r
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: -tered; -ter·ing
Etymology: Anglo-French sequestrer, from Middle French, from Latin sequestrare to hand over to a trustee, from sequester third party to whom disputed property is entrusted, agent, from secus beside, otherwise
1 : to place (as a jury or witness) in seclusion or isolation
NOTE: Juries are sequestered in order to preserve their impartiality. Witnesses are sequestered so that their testimony is not influenced by the testimony of prior witnesses.
2 a : to seize esp. by a writ of sequestration b : to deposit (property) in sequestration

Main Entry: sequester
Function: noun
: SEQUESTRATION 3

Main Entry: ¹se·ques·ter
Pronunciation: si-'kwes-t&r
Function: transitive verb
: to hold (as a metallic ion) in solutionespecially for the purpose of suppressing undesired chemical or biological activity

Main Entry: ²sequester
Function: noun
: SEQUESTRUM

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