sequestration
(siːkwɛˈstreɪʃən)
Forms: 4–5 sequestracoun, 5 sequestracyo(u)n, 5–6 sequestracion, 6 sequestratioun, 6– sequestration.
[ad. late L. sequestrātiōn-em, f. L. sequestrāre: see sequester v. Cf. OF. sequestration, Sp. secuestracion, Pg. sequestra{cced}ão, It. sequestrazione.]
1. a. An act or the action of sequestering, banishment, exile; esp. Eccl., a cutting off from the privileges of Church-membership, excommunication.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 20 How þat we spek of curse oiþer it þat is dedly,..or it þat is sequestracoun of þe iust man fro comyn. a 1450 in Myrc Par. Pr. (1902) 63 Alle þat brekuth or lettuth sequestracion of any prelatys, wit-oute here leue. 1581 Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 357 αϕορισµὸς. Sequestration. Whereby all offendours whatsoever, were excluded from the Sacraments. 1663 Aron-bimnucha 2 The gall and worm⁓wood of his exile, was, his sequestration from the Ark, the holy Ordinances and worship of his God. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. iii. vi. (1864) II. 89 The punishment of delinquents was sequestration from the oratory, the table, and the common meetings. 1898 Syd. Soc. Lex., Sequestration,..seclusion of infected persons or of lunatics. |
b. transf. Separation, disjunction.
| 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. ii. (1898) I. 112 The fatall sequestracion of our sowle and bodye. 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 351 It was a violent Commencement in her, and thou shalt see an answerable Sequestration. 1666 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 266 This Antimony seem'd to have been a little refin'd by the sequestration of its unnecessary Sulphur. 1842 Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets (1863) 177 Protesting..against the sequestration of pauses. |
† c. Setting apart, consecration.
Obs. rare.
| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 58 Professions, Sequestred by God, (and in that Sequestration confirmed by Policy,) for the good of Mankind. 1681 J. Flavel Meth. Grace xvi. 301 This blood..was prepared by his voluntary sequestration, or sanctification of himself to this very use or purpose. |
2. A state of being sequestered, separation, seclusion, retirement.
| 1565 in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. xlvii. 476 To have some greater Restraint put upon the Lady Lenox and some harder Sequestration than she now hath. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. i. 58 And neuer noted in him any studie, Any retyrement, any sequestration, From open Haunts and Popularitie. 1628 Feltham Resolves i. xciv. 274 It is no other, but a place of retyring, and sequestration from the World. 1648–99 J. Beaumont Psyche xxiii. clxxvi. (1702) 354 Her Phylax tir'd with his long Sequestration From his dear Charge. 1791 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 213 You observe that a sequestration from the connexions of society, makes the heart cold and unfeeling. 1835 Wordsw. Death Charles Lamb 121 O gift divine of quiet sequestration! 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 350 [She] had shown her enduring consciousness of the injuries she had sustained, by a sixteen years' sequestration of herself from his side. |
| fig. 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. To Rdr., I earnestly desire that in heaven both thou and I may ever bee under Sequestration in that Mediator for Gods glory. |
3. Law.
a. The appropriation of the income of a property in order to satisfy claims against the owner;
esp. Eccl., a writ diverting the income of a benefice to the advantage of the creditors of the incumbent.
| 1565 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 432 Arreistment and sequestratioun of the money foirsaid. a 1704 T. Brown Two Oxf. Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 7 The Churchwardens tell me, that they have a sequestration upon my living. |
b. Eccl. (See
quot. 1641.)
| 1575–6 Act 18 Eliz. c. 11 §5 The Ordinary..shall grante the Sequestracion of suche Proffites to suche Inhabitante..w{supt}{suph}in the Parrishe. 1641 Termes de la Ley 246 Sequestration..is used also for the gathering of fruits and profits of a benefice voyd, unto the use of the next Incumbent. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4) 102 On a Suspension there must be a Sequestration for the serving of the Cure. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. iv. (1876) I. 180 They were in consequence suspended from their ministry, and their livings put in sequestration. |
c. An order of court appointing the goods of a deceased person whose executor or executors have renounced probate, to be secured and administered; also, a writ of Chancery empowering commissioners or a sheriff to seize the property of the person against whom it is directed.
| 1591 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) II. 199 For probate bondes and regestring 16s. 4d. For relapsinge of the sequestration 5s. 2d. 1641 Termes de la Ley 246 Sequestration..is used also for the act of an Ordinary, when no man will medle with the goods and chattels of one deceased. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. xxvii. 444 If he eludes the search of the serjeant also, then a sequestration issues to seise all his personal estate, and the profits of his real. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 102 Sir John..stood out all process of contempt to a sequestration. 1884 [see sequestrator]. |
† d. The separation of a matter of controversy from the contending parties and its reference to an umpire or arbitrator.
Obs.| 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §17 A, The keeping of a thing litigious is called Sequestration, which is therefore defined, the deposition of a thing in controuersie. |
e. Seizure of the possessions of a subject by the state;
esp. the act of a belligerent power in seizing debts owing from its own subjects to the opposing power.
| 1568 tr. Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. 41 b, They made Sequestration of the ship and goods, and caried the child to prison with the rest of his company. 1654 (title) An Ordinance for the better ordering and disposing the Estates under Sequestration. 1660 (title) An Act for Repeal of two Acts for Sequestrations. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 279 He paid 545l. for his delinquency and sequestration. 1823 Scott Peveril i, His former delinquencies..were severely punished by fine and sequestration. 1903 Morley Gladstone viii. i. (1905) II. 248 The Cabinet..considered the sequestration of the customs' dues at Smyrna to be practicable. |
f. Scots Law. (See
sequestrate v. 2 d.) (
a) The placing of lands (belonging to a bankrupt, or of disputed ownership) under the control of a judicial factor or trustee. (
b) In modern use: The placing of a bankrupt's estate in the hands of a trustee for division among the creditors.
| 1765–8 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. xii. §55 Sequestration of lands..is a judicial act of the court of session, whereby the management of the subject sequestered is taken from the former possessor, and intrusted to the care of a factor or steward named by the court. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Sequestration, A petition praying for the sequestration of a land estate. 1870 Standard 16 Nov., The plaintiff, as the assignee of the Rev. J. Storie, who had become insolvent, brought this action to recover the total sum which had been paid to the defendant during the existence of the sequestration. |
4. Seizure, confiscation.
| 1640 in Rymer Fœdera (1735) XX. 429 We..have accordingly..commanded our said Secretary to see the Sequestration [of the Office of Postmaster for foreign Parts, etc.] put in speedy Execution. 1694 Milton's Lett. of State 316 Upon this News, Antony and Manuel..presently look'd upon the Goods as their own,..covering this Fraud of theirs with a Sequestration of English Goods that soon after ensu'd. 1895 R. Olney in Curr. Hist. V. 197 To resent and to resist any sequestration of Venezuelan soil by Great Britain. |
5. Path. (See
quot.)
| 1898 Syd. Soc. Lex., Sequestration, formation of a Sequestrum. |
6. Chem. The action or state of being sequestered (sense 5).
| 1948 Jrnl. Chem. Education XXV. 483/1 In sequestration, the multivalent positive ion has practically disappeared from the solution without being evolved as a gas, removed as a precipitate or deposited as an element. 1959 R. L. Smith Sequestration of Metals iii. 26 Sequestration is most usually achieved by chelation, even although chelation itself covers many phenomena which would not be considered sequestration. 1973 D. F. Long tr. Degrémont's Water Treatm. Handbk. (ed. 4) ix. 293 The total sequestration of calcium requires about 50g of polyphosphate per degree TH. |
7. attrib.| 1648 (title) An additional Ordinance of Parliament for the better regulating and speedy bringing in the Sequestration Monies out of the Estates of Papists and Delinquents. 1816 G. J. Bell Comm. Laws Scot. (1826) II. 313 The proper manufacturing of the rude materials into a commodity, brings a person within the reach of the Sequestration Act. Ibid., The provision which extends the Sequestration Law to manufacturers. |