confiscate

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
confiscate
    adj 1: surrendered as a penalty [syn: {confiscate}, {forfeit},
           {forfeited}]
    v 1: take temporary possession of as a security, by legal
         authority; "The FBI seized the drugs"; "The customs agents
         impounded the illegal shipment"; "The police confiscated
         the stolen artwork" [syn: {impound}, {attach}, {sequester},
         {confiscate}, {seize}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Confiscate \Con"fis*cate\ (? or ?), a. [L. confiscatus, p. p. of
   confiscare to confiscate, prop., to lay up in a chest; con- +
   fiscus basket, purse, treasury. See {Fiscal}.]
   Seized and appropriated by the government to the public use;
   forfeited.
   [1913 Webster]

         Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate. --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Confiscate \Con"fis*cate\ (? or ?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   {Confiscated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Confiscating}.]
   To seize as forfeited to the public treasury; to appropriate
   to the public use.
   [1913 Webster]

         It was judged that he should be banished and his whole
         estate confiscated and seized.           --Bacon.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
26 Moby Thesaurus words for "confiscate":
      accroach, annex, appropriate, arrogate, attach, collectivize,
      commandeer, communalize, communize, distrain, expropriate, garnish,
      impound, impress, levy, nationalize, preempt, press, replevin,
      replevy, seize, sequester, sequestrate, socialize, take,
      take away

    

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