English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English sequestren (verb) and sequestre (noun), from Old French sequestrer,[1] from Late Latin sequestrō (separate, give up for safekeeping), from Latin sequester (mediator, depositary), probably originally meaning "follower", from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (follow).

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

sequester (third-person singular simple present sequesters, present participle sequestering, simple past and past participle sequestered)

  1. To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.
    The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order.
  2. To separate in order to store.
    The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO2 emissions.
  3. To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:set apart
    • a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. []”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. [], London: [] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, [], published 1629, →OCLC:
      I had wholly sequestered my thoughts from civil affairs.
  4. (chemistry) To prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound
  5. (law) To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
  6. To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.
    • c. 1694, Robert South, sermon XXIV
      It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him.
  7. (transitive, US, politics, law) To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.
    The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.
  8. (international law) To seize and hold enemy property.
  9. (intransitive) To withdraw; to retire.
  10. To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

Noun edit

sequester (plural sequesters)

  1. sequestration; separation
  2. (law) A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a referee[2]
  3. (medicine) A sequestrum.

Related terms edit

Translations edit

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for sequester”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

References edit

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “sequester”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ John Bouvier (1839) “SEQUESTER”, in A Law Dictionary, [], volumes II (L–Z), Philadelphia, Pa.: T. & J. W. Johnson, [], successors to Nicklin & Johnson, [], →OCLC.

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From secus (otherwise, beside) and the contrastive suffix *-teros which is also found in magister, minister and mātertera.[1]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

sequester m (genitive sequestris); third declension or sequester m (genitive sequestrī); second declension

  1. depositary, trustee (someone to take care of property while in dispute)
  2. agent of bribery, go-between
  3. mediator

Declension edit

Usually: Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative sequester sequestrēs
Genitive sequestris sequestrum
Dative sequestrī sequestribus
Accusative sequestrem sequestrēs
Ablative sequestre sequestribus
Vocative sequester sequestrēs

Sometimes: Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative sequester sequestrī
Genitive sequestrī sequestrōrum
Dative sequestrō sequestrīs
Accusative sequestrum sequestrōs
Ablative sequestrō sequestrīs
Vocative sequester sequestrī

Related terms edit

References edit

  • sequester”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • sequester in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  1. ^ Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954) “sequester”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 518