Neither guile nor force might it [a net] distrain.
Spenser.
3. (Law) (a) To seize, as a pledge or indemnification; to take possession of as security for nonpayment of rent, the reparation of an injury done, etc.; to take by distress; as, to distrain goods for rent, or of an amercement. (b) To subject to distress; to coerce; as, to distrain a person by his goods and chattels.
Dis*train", v. i. To levy a distress.
Upon whom I can distrain for debt.
Camden.
Dis*train"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being, or liable to be, distrained. Blackstone.
Dis*train"er (?), n. Same as Distrainor.
Dis*train"or (?), n. (Law) One who distrains; the party distraining goods or chattels. Blackstone.
Dis*traint" (?), n. [OF. destrainte distress, force.] (Law) The act or proceeding of seizing personal property by distress. Abbott.
||Dis`trait" (?), a. [F. See Distract.] Absent-minded; lost in thought; abstracted.
Dis*traught" (?), p. p. & a. [OE. distract, distrauht. See Distract, a.] 1. Torn asunder; separated. [Obs.] "His greedy throat . . . distraught." Spenser.