DURESS

duress

(noun) compulsory force or threat; “confessed under duress”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

duress (uncountable)

(obsolete) Harsh treatment.

Constraint by threat.

(legal) Restraint in which a person is influenced, whether by lawful or unlawful forceful compulsion of their liberty by monition or implementation of physical enforcement; legally for the incurring of civil liability, of a citizen's arrest, or of subrogation, or illegally for the committing of an offense, of forcing a contract, or of using threats.

Verb

duress (third-person singular simple present duresses, present participle duressing, simple past and past participle duressed)

To put under duress; to pressure.

Anagrams

• Druses, Suders, druses, sudser

Source: Wiktionary

Du"ress, n. Etym: [OF. duresse, du, hardship, severity, L. duritia, durities, fr. durus hard. See Dure.]

1. Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty. The agreements . . . made with the landlords during the time of slavery, are only the effect of duress and force. Burke.

2. (Law)

Definition: The state of compulsion or necessity in which a person is influenced, whether by the unlawful restrain of his liberty or by actual or threatened physical violence, to incur a civil liability or to commit an offense.

Du*ress", v. t.

Definition: To subject to duress. "The party duressed." Bacon.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition