SEIZE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Seize

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Seize

verb

(past & past part. seized; pres. part. seizing)

1.

Take hold of; grab. Synonyms: clutch, prehend. "She clutched her purse" , "The mother seized her child by the arm" , "Birds of prey often seize small mammals"

2.

Take or capture by force. "The rebels threaten to seize civilian hostages"

3.

Take possession of by force, as after an invasion. Synonyms: appropriate, capture, conquer. "The army seized the town" , "The militia captured the castle"

4.

Take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority. Synonyms: attach, confiscate, impound, sequester. "The customs agents impounded the illegal shipment" , "The police confiscated the stolen artwork"

5.

Seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession. Synonyms: arrogate, assume, take over, usurp. "He usurped my rights" , "She seized control of the throne after her husband died"

6.

Hook by a pull on the line.

7.

Affect. Synonyms: clutch, get hold of. "The patient was seized with unbearable pains" , "He was seized with a dreadful disease"

8.

Capture the attention or imagination of. Synonym: grab. "The movie seized my imagination"

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Seize" Quotes from Famous Books

... Georgie's bravery and presence of mind seem wonderful to me. He spoke little, only now and then directing me where to place my feet, but his strong, boyish hand held mine in a firm grasp, and his clear eyes saw just when to seize the opportunity, given by a receding wave, to spring ...

— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, September 1878, No. 11 • Various

... occasional bad moods; he had been entertained too well by one of the local magnates on the previous evening and had sat late, drinking too much wine, with the result that he had a bad liver, with a mind to match it. He was only too ready to seize the first opportunity that offered—and poor Johnnie's case was the first that morning—of exercising the awful power a barbarous law had put into his hands. When the prisoner's defender declared that this ...

— Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn • William Henry Hudson

... than on any of the men around did this general fever seize upon Lenore. Since the day that she had waited for the absent Anton, she had seemed to begin a new life. Her mother mourned and despaired, but the daughter's young heart beat high against the storm, and the excitement was to her a wild enjoyment, to which she gave herself up, heart ...

— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag

... English slavery was Jamaica. It was Oliver Cromwell who, in his zeal for God and the slave trade, sent an expedition to seize Hayti. His fleet, driven off there, took Jamaica in 1655. The English found the mountains already infested with runaway slaves known as "Maroons," and more Negroes joined them when the English arrived. In 1663 the freedom of the Maroons was acknowledged, land was given ...

— The Negro • W.E.B. Du Bois

... its convex middle. It came up and bumped me with its metal side. I kicked away, shoved off. Shapes were moving in a dim interior light behind the port-panes. Little hand-beams of radiance darted out. They seemed to seize me, ...

— Wandl the Invader • Raymond King Cummings

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