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estoppel

Today it means: A legal principle in the law of equity that prevents a party from asserting otherwise valid legal rights against another party because of conduct by the first party, or circumstances to which the first party has knowingly contributed, making it unjust for those rights to be asserted. Full definition →

Middle English *estoppel ← Old French estoupail

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The story

Old French · derived fromestoupail
Middle English · inherited from*estoppel
English todayestoppel

From Middle English *estoppel (found only as stoppel, stoppell, stopple, etc.), probably from Old French estoupail, estopail, estopaille, a bung made of oakum (étoupe), from Latin stuppa ("flax, tow"), from Ancient Greek στύππη (stuppē).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.