impound

/ɪmˈpaʊnd/

/ɪmˈpaʊnd/

Other forms: impounded; impounding; impounds

To impound something is to legally take it away from its owner. The police might impound your car if you were parked in front of a fire hydrant.

Sometimes a city will impound a driver's car after they've accumulated many unpaid parking tickets. Another reason to impound someone's vehicle is because they haven't been making their loan payments — in a case like this, the bank that holds the loan might impound the car. A second meaning of impound is to shut an animal inside an enclosure or pound.

Definitions of impound

1. verb

   take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority
   “The customs agents impounded the illegal shipment”

   synonyms: attach, confiscate, seize, sequester

   sequester

   requisition forcibly, as of enemy property

   types:

   condemn

   appropriate (property) for public use

   garnish, garnishee

   take a debtor's wages on legal orders, such as for child support

   distrain

   confiscate by distress

   type of:

   take

   take into one's possession
2. verb

   place or shut up in a pound
   synonyms: pound

   pound, pound up

   shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits

   type of:

   confine, hold, restrain

   to close within bounds, limit or hold back from movement