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”).
sequester (third-person singular simple present sequesters, present participle sequestering, simple past and past participle sequestered)
- To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.
The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order.
- To separate in order to store.
The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO2 emissions.
- 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.
- (chemistry) To prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound
- (law) To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
- 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.
- (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.
- (international law) To seize and hold enemy property.
- (intransitive) To withdraw; to retire.
- To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.
to separate from all external influence
to separate in order to store
chemistry: to prevent an ion from behaving normally
law: to temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims
US, politics, law: to remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget
sequester (plural sequesters)
- sequestration; separation
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:A sequester from liberty , fasting , and prayer
- (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]
- (medicine) A sequestrum.
sequestration, separation
a person with whom two or more parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “sequester”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ John Bouvier (1839) “SEQUESTER”, in A Law Dictionary, […], volumes II (L–Z), Philadelphia, Pa.: T. & J. W. Johnson, […], successors to Nicklin & Johnson, […], →OCLC.
From secus (“otherwise, beside”) + -tris from the contrastive suffix *-teros which is also found in magister, minister and mātertera.[1]
sequester m (genitive sequestris); third declension or sequester m (genitive sequestrī); second declension
- depositary, trustee (someone to take care of property while in dispute)
- agent of bribery, go-between
- mediator
Usually: Third-declension noun.
Sometimes: Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).
- “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.