Word.ws English Dictionary

distrain

Syllables: dis·trainUK/dɪˈstɹeɪn//di-ˈstrān/

distrain verb: to squeeze, press, embrace; to constrain, oppress.

Verb

distrain (third-person singular simple present distrains, present participle distraining, simple past and past participle distrained)

  1. (obsolete) To squeeze, press, embrace; to constrain, oppress.
    • But when he heard her answeres loth, he knew / Some secret sorrow did her heart distraine […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • Thus spake the Prince, and gently 'gan distrain / Now him, now her, between his friendly arms.1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XII, xii
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property.
    • to distrain a person by his goods and chattels
  3. (intransitive) To seize somebody's property in place of, or to force, payment of a debt.
    Synonyms:
    distress
  4. (obsolete) To pull off, tear apart.
    • For that same net so cunningly was wound, / That neither guile, nor force might it distraine.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

distrain meaning in Tamil and Kannada

distrain in Tamil

கைப்பற்று, பறி

distrain in Kannada

ಜಫ್ತಿ ಮಾಡು

Synonyms of distrain

Forms of distrain

third-person singular presentdistrains
present participledistraining
past participledistrained
pastdistrained

Origin of distrain

From Middle English distreynen, from Old French destraindre, from Latin distringō (“to pull asunder”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).

Words formed from distrain

Words that rhyme with distrain

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about distrain

What does distrain mean?
Distrain means to squeeze, press, embrace; to constrain, oppress.
What is distrain in Tamil?
Distrain in Tamil is கைப்பற்று, பறி. See Distrain meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is distrain?
Distrain is a verb.
How do you pronounce distrain?
Distrain is pronounced /dɪˈstɹeɪn/ (UK).
What is the past tense of distrain?
The past tense of distrain is distrained.

Words near distrain in the dictionary

  1. distractor
  2. distractors
  3. distracts
  4. distrail
  5. distrails
  6. distrain
  7. distrainable
  8. distrained
  9. distrainee
  10. distrainees
  11. distrainer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: distrain (page history and authors); distrain (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); distrain (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Yangolin-distrain.wav.

Cite this entry: “distrain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/distrain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.