▪ I. † seˈquester, n.1 Obs.
Also 4 suquestre.
[a. L. sequester; prob. f. *seques-, *sequos a position apart (whence secus adv., otherwise); the etymological sense of the word (which is primarily an adj.) would thus be ‘standing apart’.]
In Civil Law, a person with whom the parties in a suit deposit the thing contested until the case has been decided. Also, in wider sense, a mediator.
| c 1380 Antecrist in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif (1851) 125 But take we heede to þe popes & cardinals boþe;..& dekenes & officials & sequestris. a 1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 363 And þat no man ne legge in lond ne in tenement by-fore y-seyd, þe whyle þe suquestre ys þare set. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 309 Kynge Iohn and pope Iulius dyed both in one day, wherby he [Basilius] lacked a conuenient sequester or solicitoure. 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §17 c, This doth take the possession from the parties in controuersie, and giueth the same to the Sequester or indifferent man, to thend he may deliuer the same to him that recouereth it. 1633 D. R[ogers] Treat. Sacr. i. 65 The Minister then is..appointed as a Sequester betweene God and the Congregation. |
▪ II. † seˈquester, n.2 Obs.
[a. F. séquestre, ad. L. sequestrum, orig. neut. of sequester adj.: see prec.]
1. Sequestration, seclusion, isolation.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iv. 40 This hand of yours requires A sequester from Liberty. |
2. The office or court to which goods seized by an act of sequestration are taken.
| 1568 tr. Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. 59 b, All the goodes and merchandise which he brought with him..were according to their common vsage seised and taken into the sequester. |
3. Path. = sequestrum. [So in Fr.] ? Obs.
| 1831 South Otto's Path. Anat. ii. 146 A jelly-like mass gradually hardens and becomes ossified, surrounds, like a sheath,..the necrotic bone, which is then called a sequester. |
▪ III. sequester, v.
(sɪˈkwɛstə(r))
Also 4–9 sequestre.
[ad. late L. sequestr-āre to place in safe keeping, to remove, separate, f. L. sequestr-, sequester: see sequester n.1
Cf. OF. sequestrer (14th c.), mod.F. séquestrer, Sp. secuestrar, Pg. sequestrar, It. sequestrare.]
1. trans. To set aside, separate. † a. To separate and reject; to eliminate; chiefly in immaterial sense, to set aside, dismiss from consideration.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 437 Sequestre we al mannes lawe, supposynge Crists ordynaunce. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas iii. xviii. (1554) 90 b, Poetes..should be quiet fro worldly mocion, And it sequester out of their remembraunce. 1537 Inst. Chr. Man O iij b, These be the wordes of Christe..that we shulde sequester this care from us and seke for the kyngdome of god. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. ii. i. 53 Thirdly, the great trouble..nature hath in the expelling and sequestring such humours. 1661 Boyle Scept. Chem. iv. 259 They presume, that they can sequester the sulphur even of Minerals and Metalls. |
† b. Eccl. To remove (a person) from the privileges of church-membership, to excommunicate.
| 1395 Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 29 He shal be sequestrid, or departid fro the chirche, til he knouleche his gilt and amende him. 14.. Fothergill MS. in Henderson York Man. (Surtees 1875) Pref. 16 We curse and descry and fro the boundes of all holy kyrke sequestre and depart all thos that this illys hase done [etc.]. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 146 It is to be..prayed for, lest while any being sequestred, is separated from y⊇ body of Christe, he remaine farre from health. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 223 If their Bishop have sequestred them from the holy Communion, they must not be suffered to communicate elsewhere. |
† c. With religious signification: To set apart, consecrate to a particular service, to ‘separate’. Obs.
| 1533 More Answ. Poysoned Bk. i. vi. (1534) 21 Hym hath god the father specyally sequestred and seuered and set asyde out of the nomber of all creatures. 1632 Consecr. Chapel Merstham Hatch in Legg. 17th cent. Consecr. Churches (1911) 141 And after the ascention of our Saviour taught us by thy Apostles to distinguish [places] sequestred for religious exercises, from private houses. 1692 T. Watson Body Divinity 332 This Lord's Day is to be sequestred and set apart for Divine Worship. 1697 G. Burghope Div. Worship 147 Let him..wholly sequester his soul to this work of religion. |
† d. To remove from membership of a body, or from a public office or station. Obs.
| 1571 Hooker Hist. Irel. (1587) 128/2 in Holinshed, Euerie person of the parlement ought to keepe secret..the secrets and things spoken and doone in the parlement house..vpon paine to be sequestred out of the house. 1629 Maxwell Herodian 252 He tooke to wife..Augusta, yet soone after diuorced her, and..sequestred her to a priuate Life. 1667 Pepys Diary 3 Dec., The Court of Aldermen have sequestered him from their Court till he do bring in an account. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. III. liv. 164 Immediately after Strafford was sequestered from parliament. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. x. 165 Many had already been sequestered from their livings. |
e. To seclude (a person, thing, or place) from general access or intercourse; to keep apart from society. Now rare or Obs. exc. in sequestered ppl. a.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. xlvi. (1869) 93 For it is not in my powere to sequestre him longe from thee. 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. B iij b, Herts sequestred from all carnall desyres. c 1550 N. Smyth Herodian vi. 73 Those which inhabite the Orient, are sequestred wyth great distaunce of lande, and Sea. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 75 Why are you sequestred from all your traine? 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xxvii. 489 They laboured and tooke paines to sequester their children from delights and liberties..imploying them in honest and profitable exercises. a 1626 Bacon War with Spain (1629) 1, I had wholly sequestred my thoughts from ciuill affaires. 1698 South Serm. (1727) IV. 179 A Christian, in all Acts of Duty, ought to sequester his Mind from all Respect to an ensuing Reward. 1766 Life of Quin ii. 18 Cato..being nine years sequestered in Mr. Addison's closet. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude ix. 116 Men Whom in the city, privilege of birth Sequestered from the rest. |
| refl. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxvi. (1893) 106 Fewe can fully sequestre & departe himself fro perisshing creatures. a 1557 M. Basset tr. More's Treat. Passion M.'s Wks. 1372/2 Sequestring themselfes from those wretched fetters that haue so long holden theim in sinne. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 93 It shalbe lawful for a man to sequester himself from his owne wife. 1603 Florio Montaigne i. xxxviii. 119 It is not enough for a man to have sequestred himselfe from the concourse of people... A man must sequester and recover himselfe from himselfe. 1657 North's Plutarch (1676) Add. Lives 34 He was resolved to sequester himself from the world. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) VI. 339 But why, Ladies,..do you sequester yourselves from the company? 1834 De Quincey Cæsars Wks. 1859 X. 232 He sequestered himself from his subjects in the recesses of his palace. 1847 ― Joan of Arc ibid. III. 221 As surely as the wolf retires before cities, does the fairy sequester herself from the haunts of the licensed victualler. |
f. To segregate, separate in thought from the surroundings.
| 1841 Emerson Ess. Ser. i. xii. 356 The virtue of art lies in detachment, in sequestering one object from the embarrassing variety. |
2. To confiscate, appropriate, to take forcible possession of.
| a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. (1811) 363 Than the commons of y⊇ cytie..toke certayne of the aldermen, & caste theym in prysone, and sequestryd theyr goodes & dispoyled moche therof. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) L viij b, The gouernours..commaunded all the saied shyppes to bee sequestred into theyr owne handes. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 21 His Majesty to be enfourmed that there is just grounde for his Majesty to sequestre the Seale, and then the L. Chancellor to come to the barre. 1640 in Rymer Fœdera (1735) XX. 429 We..thereupon have been pleased to sequester the said Offices, into the Hands of Philip Burlamachy. 1644 Symonds Diary (Camden) 32 He is in rebellion and his estate sequestered. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. ix. ii. (1864) V. 207 The German prelates were commanded..to sequester the goods of all who had presumed to assist in the incarceration of an archbishop. 1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 June 7/2 The banker to-day sequestered some State property, which was sold by auction. |
3. Law. a. To remove (property, etc.) from the possession of the owner temporarily; to seize and hold the effects of a debtor until the claims of creditors be satisfied; Eccl. to divert the income of a benefice to the payment of debts due from the incumbent, or for the purpose of making good dilapidations; to hold the income of a benefice during a vacancy for the benefit of the next incumbent.
| 1530 Palsgr. 709/1, I sequester, I put a thyng from the possessoure by the auctorite of a judge. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 127 He hath..the admynystratyon of intestate godys, by the reson wherof they be sequestryd from the profyt of al the frendys of hym wych so dyed intestate. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §255 Both his Livings..[were] sequester'd. 1731 Swift Advant. Repeal. Test Misc. 1735 V. 407 Every Bishop upon the Vacancy of a Church-Living, can sequester the Profits for the Use of the next Incumbent. 1790 Dallas Amer. Law Rep. I. 399 The profits of his property may be sequestered during war, but no forfeiture can take place. 1884 Law Rep. 25 Chanc. Div. 341 The Bishop..was commanded to sequester the fruits and profits of the rectory..until he should have levied the sum of {pstlg}2285 13 4. |
| transf. and fig. 1678 Marvell Growth Popery Wks. 1872–5 IV. 251 But sequestring it [the Bible] only into such hands as were interested in the cheat, they had the opportunity to vitiate..those Records by which the poor people hold their salvation. 1837 Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. 417 The liberties of New York were thus sequestered by a monarch [James II] who desired to imitate the despotism of France. |
† b. To remove (property in dispute) from the possession of contending parties in a suit, until reference has been had to a third party as arbitrator or umpire. Obs.
| 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph. 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. To Rdr., For God and man beeing at ods, the difference was Sequestred or referred into Christs his hand to end and umpire it. 1656 Blount Glossogr. |
c. To apply the process of sequestration to (a person); to sequestrate the estate or benefice of.
| 1681 Baxter Apol. Nonconf. Min. 80 The Vicar was sequestred by the Committee. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxv. 253 Thomas Morrison, Rector of Henly upon Thames..was sequestred. 1901 G. Douglas Ho. Green Shutters 328 Sandy..was informing a bunch of unshaven bodies that the Gourlays were ‘sequestered’. |
† d. intr. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Sequester, is a Term used in the Civil Law for renouncing, as when a Widow comes into Court, and disclaims to have any thing to do, or to intermeddle with her Husband's Estate, who is Deceased; she is said to Sequester. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey). |
† 4. To withdraw into seclusion, to retire, keep apart. Obs.
| 1627 Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 286 Is it our pride..or what, that makes vs willingly sequester from such societie? 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 51 To sequester out of the world into Atlantick and Eutopian polities..will not mend our condition. 1838 New Monthly Mag. LIII. 541 Have you no hobby whereon you may whisk yourself away from this diurnal sphere, and so sequester from the real to the ideal? |
5. Chem. To form a stable complex, esp. a chelate, with (an ion) so as effectively or actually to remove it from solution; to form a stable complex with (a biochemical molecule).
| 1934 R. E. Hall U.S. Patent 1,956,515 5/2 The water softening action of the sodium metaphosphate..is rather to sequester or lock up the calcium in a but extremely slightly [sic] ionizable condition in a soluble sodium-calcium-metaphosphate complex molecule. 1953 Sci. Amer. June 70/2 The iron..is tightly imprisoned and hidden away—‘sequestered’, in the poetic language of chelation technology—by EDTA's chelate rings. 1962 Which? Oct. 297/2 Instead of softening water by replacing the calcium and magnesium in hard water by sodium..you can ‘wrap up’ the calcium and magnesium—sequester them—and so isolate them from the soap during washing. 1973 Nature 13 July 103/2 Insect yolk proteins..are synthesized and secreted by the fat body, and are sequestered from the haemolymph by the developing oocytes. 1977 Sci. Amer. July 92/1 When the cations are sequestered in an organic cage molecule, the resulting complex is so stable that the ‘backsliding’ reaction is prevented. |
Hence seˈquestering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1620 Shelton Quix. ii. xv. 91 And it might so be, that in this time of sequestring, he might forget all his vanities. 1653 Bulwer Anthropomet. 60 The sequestring variance of virile Nature. 1684 Baxter Twelve Argum. §16 They ordered the Sequestring of all Ministers that would not Fast and Pray. 1949 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) IX. 512/2 The term ‘sequestering’ introduced by Hall Laboratories to designate the virtually complete elimination of Ca++ ions whilst retaining the calcium in solution in the form of a soluble complex. 1962 Which? Oct. 297/2 The best known sequestering agents for softening water in this way are the sodium metaphosphates. 1973 P. A. Allum Politics & Society in Post-War Naples ix. 316 Antonio Gava's manoeuvres to try to become Campanian Regional Chairman..included the sequestering of a DC regional councillor in a trunk. |