confiscate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to seize property by authority

   Customs officers will confiscate any undeclared goods.

Simplified etymology

Confiscate, recorded from the mid-16th century, comes from Latin confiscare, “store in a chest” or “take for the public treasury.” It combines con- “together” with fiscus “chest” or “treasury,” and originally meant taking someone’s property for the public treasury as punishment.

From Latin confiscatus, past participle of confiscare ('to lay up in a chest, transfer to the public treasury'), from con- ('together') + fiscus ('treasury, public purse, basket').

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