foreclose, v.
(fɔəˈkləʊz)
Forms: 3–6 forclose, 6 Sc. foirclois, 6– foreclose.
[f. forclos-, stem of forclore, f. for-, for- prefix3 + clore to close. Some of the senses may have originated from or have been influenced by the identification of the prefix with for-1 (cf. OE. forcl{yacu}san to close, stop up), or with for-2, fore- (cf. preclude).]
1. trans. To bar, exclude, shut out completely.
| [1292 Britton vi. ii. §8 Les plus proscheins heirs, qi par les feffours en sount forclos.] 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xxi. (1859) 21 Thenne am I nought forclosyd oute of this court [orig. forclos donques ne suis ie pas]. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xii. 289 He forclosed me fro all my kyns⁓men. 1563 Mirr. Mag., Ld. Hastings xvii, Greenish waues and heauie lowring skies All comfort else forclosed our exiled eies. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 314 b, [They] ought not deteigne, and foreclose other men from the knowledge of Holy Scripture. 1732 Neal Hist. Purit. I. 229 The Puritans being thus foreclosed and shut out of the Church. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 125 My flight to foreclose from the chase of my foes! 1883 L. O. Pike Yearbks. 11 & 12 Edw. III, Pref. 24 The certificate of the bishop..would be a sufficient answer to foreclose her should she bring a writ of dower. |
† b. To bar or stop up (one's) passage. Obs.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 303/143 Þe se for-closede hire sone. |
† 2. To close fast, close or stop up, block up (an opening, way, etc.) Obs.
| 1547 Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 43 a, All by waies beyng stopped and forclosed. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst ii. 106 The entrie vnto it is forclosed and impossible to be come to. 1600 Holland Livy viii. xxiv. (1609) 298 The continuall raines..had foreclosed and stopped the passages. 1655 Calthrop Reports (1670) 158 If any common way or common course of water be foreclosed or letted. 1751 J. Brown Shaftesb. Charac. 178 Every avenue is foreclosed, by which virtue should enter. |
3. To preclude, hinder, or prohibit (a person) from (an action) or to do something; to hinder the action, working, or activity of.
| 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 7 §6 Children borne..vnder the same mariage..shall be..vtterly forclosed, excluded and barred to claime..as laufull heyre. 1602 Carew Cornwall 19 b, The Imbargo with Spaine..foreclosed this trade. Ibid. 112 b, Foreclosing all others, saue themselves, from dredging of Oysters. 1648 Prynne Plea for Lords 36 This Protestation did not foreclose the Lords..to give Judgement against Commoners. 1681 Luttrell Brief. Rel. (1857) I. 145 He had obtained his liberty on bail..but..the court had since..found there was an impeachment against him..and therefore their hands being foreclosed, they discharged his bail. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. I. 187 [He] had thereby..foreclosed himself from remitting the Guilt and Punishment. 1720 Waterland Answ. Whitby's Reply §14 You resolve..to make a show of saying something, though you find yourself already foreclosed. 1732 Berkeley Serm. Soc. Prop. Gosp. Wks. III. 245 A mind not hardened by impenitency, nor foreclosed by pride. 1796 Coleridge Ode Departing Year i, Ere yet the enter'd cloud foreclosed my sight. |
b. To debar from the enjoyment of.
| 1865 Nichols Britton II. 31 We will that the lords be foreclosed of such homage. 1876 Lowell Poet. Wks. (1879) 470 Are we..Foreclosed of Beauty by our modern date? |
c. To preclude or prevent (an action or event).
| 1546 in St. Papers Hen. VIII (1852) XI. v. 121 Consydre..wheder forclosing of victailling shalbe expedyent. 1813 Scott Rokeby vi. 17 Nor hope discovery to foreclose By giving me to feed the crows. |
4. Law of Mortgage. To bar or exclude (the person entitled to redeem) upon non-payment of money due; to deprive of the equity of redemption. Const. from; also with double obj.
| 1728 Vernon Rep. II. 235 The first Mortgagee brought a Bill against the second, to compel him to redeem or to be foreclosed, and foreclosed him accordingly. 1734 Act Geo. II, c. 20 §1 Mortgagees frequently..commence Suits in his Majesty's Courts of Equity, to foreclose their Mortgagors from redeeming their Estates. 1844 Williams Real Prop. (1877) 428 He may be foreclosed his equity of redemption. |
b. To bar (a right of redemption); to take away the power of redeeming (a mortgage).
| 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4057/4 The Equity of Redemption is foreclosed on certain Mortgages. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. (1849) 390 Tom Walker never returned to foreclose the mortgage. |
5. To close beforehand; to answer or settle by anticipation.
| 1722 De Foe Moll Flanders (1840) 80 He had foreclosed all manner of objection. 1849 Tait's Mag. XVI. 399/2 Warburton has confessed that Charles was a despot, and has thereby foreclosed his case. 1865 Grote Plato I. vi. 254 Points already settled and foreclosed. |
6. To establish an exclusive claim to.
| 1599 Daniel Musophilus cxxxi, That immense and boundless ocean Of Nature's riches, never yet found out, Nor foreclosed with the wit of any man. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. I. xi. 228 Instead of being foreclosed and immovable, it [church property] is in fact the only species of landed property that is essentially moving and circulative. 1838 Emerson Addr., Cambridge (Mass.) Wks. (Bohn) II. 195 And finding not names and places..but even virtue and truth foreclosed and monopolized. |
Hence foreˈclosed ppl. a.; foreˈclosing vbl. n.
| 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 23 Passages forclosde wide ope to make. 1598 Sir T. Norreys in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1887) I. 15 The Tenants to haue the forclosinge of there owen Tythes. 1883 Gd. Words 240 A foreclosed mortgage. 1895 Daily News 6 June 5/4 There are 149 of such foreclosed estates to come under the hammer. |
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Add: [4.] c. absol. or intr. Of a mortgagee: to revoke the power of redeeming a mortgage or to redeem mortgaged property, esp. because of non-payment of money due. Now freq. const. on (a person or mortgage).
| 1728 S. Carter Law of Mortgages (ed. 2) vi. 61 A Mortgagee forecloses, and then specially agrees with the Creditors..to convey to them on Payment of his Money within twelve Months. 1785 J. J. Powell Treat. Law of Mortgages xv. 435 If he might be suffered to protect himself by getting in the legal estate, they would not carry it on by a decree, in equity, to foreclose. 1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. (ed. 2) IV. 387 On a bill by a mortgagee, to redeem or foreclose. 1860 Trollope Framley Parsonage (1861) III. i. 13 A formal notice this morning from the duke's lawyer, saying that he meant to foreclose. 1934 Pacific Reporter XXXI. 370/2 This stipulation..was entered into because of..the threats of counsel for the plaintiffs that the bank would foreclose and no one would get anything. 1985 N.Y. Times 21 Nov. d8/6 First American failed to foreclose on defaulted mortgages it was servicing for Hutton. |