sequester

• POS: Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: se=ques=ter

CIDE DICTIONARY

sequester, v. t. [F. séquestrer, L. sequestrare to give up for safe keeping, from sequester a depositary or trustee in whose hands the thing contested was placed until the dispute was settled. Cf. Sequestrate.].

•  To separate from the owner for a time; to take from parties in controversy and put into the possession of an indifferent person; to seize or take possession of, as property belonging to another, and hold it till the profits have paid the demand for which it is taken, or till the owner has performed the decree of court, or clears himself of contempt; in international law, to confiscate.  [1913 Webster]

  "Formerly the goods of a defendant in chancery were, in the last resort, sequestered and detained to enforce the decrees of the court. And now the profits of a benefice are sequestered to pay the debts of ecclesiastics."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him."  [1913 Webster]
•  To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.  [1913 Webster]

  "I had wholly sequestered my civil affairss."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity; to seclude; to withdraw; -- often used reflexively.  [1913 Webster]

  "When men most sequester themselves from action."  [1913 Webster]

  "A love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation."  [1913 Webster]

sequester, v. i. 

•  To withdraw; to retire.  [1913 Webster]

  "To sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics."  [1913 Webster]
•  To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.  [1913 Webster]

sequester, n. 

•  Sequestration; separation.  [1913 Webster]
•  A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a mediator; an umpire or referee.  Bouvier.  [1913 Webster]
•  Same as Sequestrum.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sequester, v.tr.
1 (esp. as sequestered adj.) seclude, isolate, set apart (sequester oneself from the world; a sequestered life; a sequestered cottage).
2 = SEQUESTRATE.
3 Chem. bind (a metal ion) so that it cannot react.

Etymology

ME f. OF sequestrer or LL sequestrare commit for safe keeping f. L sequester trustee

THESAURUS

sequester

abrupt, accroach, alienate, annex, arrogate, attach, cast off, cast out, cloister, close off, collectivize, commandeer, communalize, communize, confiscate, cut adrift, cut off, cut out, delete, depart, disarticulate, disconnect, disengage, disjoin, disjoint, dispossess, dissociate, distrain, disunite, divide, divorce, eject, enisle, estrange, expel, expropriate, garnish, hide, impound, impress, insulate, island, isolate, leave, levy, nationalize, part, preempt, press, pull away, pull back, pull out, replevin, replevy, secrete, segregate, seize, separate, sequestrate, set apart, set aside, shut off, socialize, split, stand aloof, stand apart, stand aside, step aside, subtract, take, throw off, throw out, uncouple, unyoke, withdraw

ROGET THESAURUS

sequester

Taking

VB take, catch, hook, nab, bag, sack, pocket, put into one's pocket, receive, accept, reap, crop, cull, pluck, gather, draw, appropriate, expropriate, impropriate, assume, possess oneself of, take possession of, commandeer, lay one's hands on, clap one's hands on, help oneself to, make free with, dip one's hands into, lay under contribution, intercept, scramble for, deprive of, take away, carry away, bear away, take off, carry off, bear off, adeem, abstract, hurry off with, run away with, abduct, steal, ravish, seize, pounce upon, spring upon, swoop to, swoop down upon, take by storm, take by assault, snatch, reave, snap up, nip up, whip up, catch up, kidnap, crimp, capture, lay violent hands on, get hold of, lay hold of, take hold of, catch hold of, lay fast hold of, take firm hold of, lay by the heels, take prisoner, fasten upon, grip, grapple, embrace, gripe, clasp, grab, clutch, collar, throttle, take by the throat, claw, clinch, clench, make sure of, catch at, jump at, make a grab at, snap at, snatch at, reach, make a long arm, stretch forth one's hand, take from, take away from, disseize, deduct, retrench, dispossess, ease one of, snatch from one's grasp, tear from, tear away from, wrench from, wrest from, wring from, extort, deprive of, bereave, disinherit, cut off with a shilling, oust, divest, levy, distrain, confiscate, sequester, sequestrate, accroach, usurp, despoil, strip, fleece, shear, displume, impoverish, eat out of house and home, drain, drain to the dregs, gut, dry, exhaust, swallow up, absorb, draw off, suck the blood of, suck like a leech, retake, resume, recover.

Penalty

VB fine, mulct, amerce, sconce, confiscate, sequestrate, sequester, escheat, estreat, forfeit.