confiscation

[Lat. confiscatio, from con fiscatus, pa. par. of confisco.] 1. Lit.: The act of seizing as forfeited to the public treasury. "... to banishment, or to confiscation of goods,..." -Ezra vii. 26. 2. Fig .: Robbery, plunder. special taxation, laid on a small cla which happens to be rich, unpopular and defensele , is really confiscation, and must ultimately impoverish rather than enrich the State."-Macaulay. Hist . Any., ch. xv.