SEIZE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Seize

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verb

Seize v. t. (past & past part. seized; pres. part. seizing)

1.

To fall or rush upon suddenly and lay hold of; to gripe or grasp suddenly; to reach and grasp. "For by no means the high bank he could seize." "Seek you to seize and gripe into your hands The royalties and rights of banished Hereford?"

2.

To take possession of by force. "At last they seize The scepter, and regard not David's sons."

3.

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."

4.

(law) To take possession of by virtue of a warrant or other legal authority; as, the sheriff seized the debtor's goods.

5.

To fasten; to fix. (Obs.) "As when a bear hath seized her cruel claws Upon the carcass of some beast too weak."

6.

To grap with the mind; to comprehend fully and distinctly; as, to seize an idea.

7.

(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."

To seize on or To seize upon, to fall on and grasp; to take hold on; to take possession of suddenly and forcibly.

Synonyms: To catch; grasp; clutch; snatch; apprehend; arrest; take; capture.

See images of 'Seize'

Etymology of 'Seize'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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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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