Word Direct Answers

seize

seize is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 6 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.To take possession of by force. At last they seize The scepter, and regard not David's sons. Milton.
  2. 2.To invade suddenly; to take sudden hold of; to come upon suddenly; as, a fever seizes a patient. Hope and deubt alternate seize her seul. Pope.
  3. 3.(law) To take possession of by virtue of a warrant or other legal authority; as, the sheriff seized the debtor's goods.
  4. 4.To fasten; to fix. [Obs.] As when a bear hath seized her cruel claws Upon the carcass of some beast too weak. Spenser.
  5. 5.To grap with the mind; to comprehend fully and distinctly; as, to seize an idea.
  6. 6.(Naut.) To bind or fasten together with a lashing of small stuff, as yarn or marline; as, to seize ropes. Note: This word, by writers on law, is commonly written seise, in the phrase to be seised of (an estate), as also, in composition, disseise, disseisin. To be seized of, to have possession, or right of possession; as, A B was seized and possessed of the manor of Dale. "Whom age might see seized of what youth made prize." Chapman. -- To seize on or upon, to fall on and grasp; to take hold on; to take possession of suddenly and forcibly.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Synonyms (Webster's 1913)

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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