seize
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
seize/siːz/
▶verb
- 1 take hold of suddenly and forcibly.
■ take forcible possession of.
■ (of the police or another authority) take possession of by warrant or legal right.
- 2 take (an opportunity) eagerly and decisively.
■ (seize on/upon) take eager advantage of.
- 3 affect suddenly or acutely.
- 4 (of a machine with moving parts or a moving part in a machine) become jammed.
- 5 (also seise) (be seized of) English Law be in legal possession of.
■ historical have or receive freehold possession of (property).
■ be aware or informed of.
– derivatives
seizable adjective,
seizer noun.
seizable adjective,
seizer noun.
– origin ME: from OFr. seizir ‘give seisin’, from med. L. sacire, in the phr. ad proprium sacire ‘claim as one's own’, from a Gmc base meaning ‘procedure’.
'seize' also found in these Oxford entries:
angary
- arrest
- attach
- capias
- capstan
- caption
- captive
- capture
- carpe diem
- catalepsy
- catch
- clutch
- collar
- commandeer
- confiscate
- cop
- distrain
- embargo
- encroach
- epilepsy
- Flynn
- forelock
- gaff
- garnish
- grab
- grapple
- grasp
- grippe
- hijack
- impound
- keep
- kidnap
- levy
- nimble
- nobble
- occupy
- perceive
- percept
- percipient
- predation
- pregnable
- preoccupy
- prey
- raid
- rape
- rapine
- raptor
- ravish
- reprehend
- reprieve
