sequester

present singular third person sequesters · participle present sequestering · participle past sequestered · past sequestered

1. To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.

   The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order.

   1 more example

   when men most sequester themselves from action

   [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)

2. To separate in order to store.

   The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO₂ emissions.

   1 more example

   There has been some investigation into the potential of seaweeds as a carbon store, and although more is needed, one study says that seaweed habitats are believed to be the most productive of all coastal vegetated ecosystems, and suggested that the world’s seaweed sequesters as much carbon as all the planet’s seagrass meadows, saltmarshes and mangroves combined.

   2023 September 25, Vincent Doumeizel, “Opinion: Seaweed is nutritious, not slimy. Eating it could save the world.”, in CNN

3. To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.

   I had wholly sequestered my thoughts from civil affairs.

   a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC

   Synonyms: allocate, appropriate, shelve, assign, dedicate, detach, designate, earmark

4. chemistryTo prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound.
5. lawTo temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
6. To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.

   c. 1694, Robert South, sermon XXIV It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him.

7. UStransitivegovernmentTo remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.

   The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.

8. international lawTo seize and hold enemy property.
9. intransitiveTo withdraw; to retire.

   to sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics

   1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC

10. datedTo renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.

plural sequesters

1. sequestration; separation

   A sequester from liberty , fasting , and prayer

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

2. lawA person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a referee
3. medicineA sequestrum.