embargo

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
embargo /ɛmˈbɑːgəʊ, ɪm-/

▶noun (pl. embargoes)

• 1 an official ban, especially on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.

• 2 historical an order of a state forbidding foreign ships to enter, or any ships to leave, its ports.

▶verb (embargoes, embargoing, embargoed)

• 1 ban (something) officially.

• 2 archaic seize (a ship or goods) for state service.

– origin C17: from Sp., from embargar ‘arrest’.