Replevies

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Recovers possession of goods that have been wrongfully seized, by a legal action known as replevin that secures their return pending a court ruling
2. Gets back personal property taken unlawfully by obtaining a court order that allows the owner to reclaim the items while the dispute continues
3. Wins back goods held by another party through a formal legal procedure that lets the rightful owner take them back before the case is decided

Etymology: "Replevies" is the third-person singular form of "replevy," a legal verb meaning to recover goods that have been wrongfully seized by giving security that the matter will be tried in court. The verb's core idea is a pledge: "replevy" combines the prefix "re-," meaning back or again, with "plevir," an Old French word that has been traced, probably, to a Germanic source that also gave English "pledge." So the legal action is literally a matter of getting one's property back by putting up a pledge. The word reached English through Old French "replevir," meaning "recover," which the English legal system adopted for a specific procedure rather than for recovery in general. The surprise lies in its family: a courtroom term for reclaiming a seized cow or cart shares its ancestry with the everyday word for a solemn promise.

Synonyms: recover, repossess