seizure English · revision 39934

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1482}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈsizjʊɚ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * UK: /ˈsiː.ʒə(ɹ)/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈsi.ʒɚ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed [[af|en|seize|-ure]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(Dictionary.com 2016) in Middle English [[m|enm|seisure]], from [[m|enm|seisen|t=to seize]].^(MWU 2024) The verb comes [[bor|fro|seisir|t=to take possession of; to put in possession]],^(Etymonline) from [[m|la-lat|saciō|t=to take into one's possession]] (8th century), whose source is usually thought to be Germanic.^(Etymonline) An earlier noun in this sense was the verbal noun [[m|enm|seising]], from the early 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The act of seizing, especially the forcible or legal taking of land or goods: 1482, in a Star Chamber case;^(OED 2026) Etymonline puts it in the late 15th century,^(Etymonline) and Dictionary.com in 1475–85.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the late 16th and 17th centuries the word also meant legal possession, like ''seisin'',^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and, in Shakespeare, a grasp or hold.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) gave "the act of seizing", "the thing seized" and "the act of taking forcible possession".^(Johnson 1755) The medical sense, a sudden attack of illness such as a stroke or an epileptic fit, is first recorded in 1779, in a letter of Samuel Johnson's;^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) it was also used for a sudden calamity.^(OED 2026) In mechanics, from 1903, the word was used for the jamming of moving parts, the act of a machine seizing up.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1482 – the act of seizing; confiscation.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1592 – legal possession (obsolete by the mid-17th century).^(OED 2026)

+ * before 1616 – a grasp or hold (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1779 – a sudden attack of illness, a fit.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1903 – the seizing up of a machine.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The act of taking something by [[force]] or by legal [[authority]]: ''Police announced the seizure of two tonnes of cocaine.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The taking of control of a place or of [[power]], especially by force: ''the army's seizure of the capital''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A sudden [[attack]] of illness, especially a [[convulsion]] caused by [[epilepsy]], or a stroke.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # The jamming of a machine or of moving parts.^(SOED 2002)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nonseizure]]

+ * [[reseizure]]

+ * [[absence seizure]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[seize]]

+ * [[seisin]]

+ * [[fit]]

+ * [[convulsion]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}