lien

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The right to take and hold or sell the property of a debtor as security or payment for a debt or duty.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An obsolete or archaic past participle of lie.
2. n. In law: The right of a person having possession of the property of another to retain it until some charge upon it or some demand due him is satisfied; the right to enforce a charge upon a specific thing by withholding possession from the owner until the charge is satisfied. A particular lien is a right to retain a thing for some charge or claim growing out of the identical thing or connected with it; a general lien is a right to retain the thing for a general balance either of all accounts between the parties, without restriction, or of accounts of like transactions, or in the same line of business. At common law possession was essential to the existence of a lien; courts of equity extended the doctrine.
3. n. Hence— A right of a creditor to have a debt or charge satisfied by legal proceedings out of specific property or its proceeds, irrespective of having possession. Often called an equitable lien. Maritime liens, the creation of courts of admiralty, are also independent of possession. So are mechanics' liens, given by statute to mechanics, etc., for unpaid labor, on real property. See below.
4. n. Hence A claim; occasion of demand; right to compensation.
5. n. The spleen.

Wiktionary

1. n. A tendon.
2. n. A legal claim; a charge upon real or personal property for the satisfaction of some debt or duty.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. p. p. of lie. See lain.
2. n. A legal claim; a charge upon real or personal property for the satisfaction of some debt or duty; a right in one to control or hold and retain the property of another until some claim of the former is paid or satisfied.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells involved in immune responses
2. n. the right to take another's property if an obligation is not discharged