Distrainor

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who seizes or takes possession of someone's property as a legal remedy to compel payment of an outstanding debt or obligation
2. One who takes control of a debtor's goods or possessions in order to satisfy a claim for money owed through the process of distress
3. An individual who lawfully confiscates property belonging to another party in order to force settlement of a financial claim or unpaid liability

Etymology: "Distrainor" is a plain agent formation: "distrain" plus the suffix "-or," which marks the person who performs the action. A distrainor is therefore one who distrains, and the verb it rests on carries the real history. "Distrain" came into English from Anglo-Norman and Old French "destreindre," meaning to constrain or press hard, descended from Latin "distringere," to pull apart or stretch out. The verb's meaning narrowed over the centuries into a legal sense: seizing a person's goods, typically as security for a debt or unpaid rent, until the debt is settled. The suffix did the rest, so the distrainor is the person, often a landlord or official, who carries out that seizure.

Synonyms: distrainer