confiscate

t. & i. [Lat. conf is cat us. pa. par. of confisco to put in a coffer or chest: con cum with, together, and fisc us =(1) a wicker basket, (2) a purse, (3) the public treasury.] [CONFISK.] A. Transitive: 1. To seize as forfeited to the public treasury. "By this plebiscite, says Livy, the fortunes of a large part of the patricians would have been confiscated." Lewis: Cred. Ear. Roman Hist . (1855), ch. xii., pt. iv., § 68, vol. ii., p. 292. *2. To deprive of goods as forfeited. "He was committed unto ward, and breaking prison, was confiscated and proclaimed traitor."-Heylin: Hist. Presbyt., p. 331. B. In trans.: Τo seize the goods of porsons as forfeited. "During their short ascendency they had done nothing but slay, and burn, and pillage, and demolish, and attaint, and confiscate."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. xviii.