sequest-, sequestr-

A congenital condition in which a mass of nonfunctioning lung tissue lacks a normal connection with the tracheobroncheal tree and receives an anomalous blood supply from a systemic branch of the thoracic aorta originating from the descending thoracic or abdominal aorta: The bronchopulmonary sequestration may be extralobar; that is, completely separated from the normally connected lung, or intralobar, which is partly surrounded by a normal lung.

A procedure in United States law that limits the size of the federal budget: Budget sequestration involves setting a limit on the amount of government spending.

The term sequestration was derived from a legal term referring to the seizing of property by an agent of a court, to prevent destruction or harm, until any dispute over such property is resolved in court.

The long-term accumulation of a substance; such as, carbon dioxide or radioactive waste, in a natural geologic formation, for example a sedimentary basin, seabed, or underground cavern: Jack and the geologists were exploring the possibilities of having a geological sequestration in the mountains.

A major demonstration of carbon dioxide injection into a saline formation for sequestration is underway at an offshore gas platform in the North Sea near Norway. Results from this project (and others) suggest that such formations will be reliable for long-term geologic sequestration (storage) sites or carbon dioxide reservoirs.

There are numerous natural carbon dioxide reservoirs throughout the Rocky Mountain states of the United States in geologic "domes" and "traps" suggesting these geological storage formations will be excellent for keeping carbon dioxide captured from industrial facilities.

1. In legislative parlance, or manner of speaking, an across-the-board decrease in domestic spending: The President ordered a sequester of $2.5 billion in budget cuts for the next year.
2. A person with whom litigants deposit property that is being contested until the case has been concluded in court: Gertrude was in court to sue her former husband to fulfill support obligations and Judge Smith was expected to determine what the court appointed sequester would provide to each of the recipients.
3. Spending reductions by the government: Arguments by congressional members and the administration have not solved the sequester that involves government spending.

The word, sequester, is enough to send shivers of fiscal panic, or sheer political malaise, for seasoned politicians and news reporters.

The sequester will mean disturbing conditions because it forces agencies to cut indiscriminately, instead of simply stripping money from their overall budgets.

Given the sequester's all-around undesirability, the scenario appears to be a short-term fix after the sequester goes into effect in a few weeks.

When President Obama addressed the nation via TV to protest that the sequester shouldn't be allowed to happen, he suggested that Congress pass a temporary measure to give both sides enough time to reach a long-term arrangement.

1. To keep a person or a group of people separated from others and not allow them to discuss a legal case, to read, or to hear news reports about it: The jury will be secluded, or sequestered, until a final verdict has been reached.

Cleo's sister sequestered herself away her family and friends until she was able to complete her nonfiction book about government incompetence and corruption.

2. To take temporary possession of property as security against legal claims: Mack's house will be sequestered until he pays the debt that he owes the bank. © ALL rights are reserved.

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A reference to being secluded, separated, or isolated: The Jason family is living in a sequestered farm making every effort to be self-sustaining by growing their own food and selling what they can in the local markets.

Ivan found a sequestered spot in the park and he sat there and enjoyed the beauty of the flowers and trees.

© ALL rights are reserved.
© ALL rights are reserved.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

A reference to that which is requisitioned or confiscated by a legal process: Jaden's cousin had sequestrable property that has been legally taken away from him until the claims of his creditors have been satisfied.

Pertaining to or of the nature of a fragment of dead bone separated from healthy bone as a result of an injury or a disease: Because of the auto accident, Sara had a sequestral bone that had to be surgically removed.

An agent that binds bile acids in the intestine, thus preventing their absorption: A sequestrant; such as, cholestyramine resin, lowers the blood cholesterol by binding the bile acids in the intestine, and so promotes their excretion in the feces instead of reabsorption from the bowel.

1. To keep a person or a group of people away from others: The judge is sequestrating the jury until a verdict is concluded.
2. In law, to take or confiscate property until a debt has been paid: Jillian's and Roy's house will be sequestrated by the bank, unless they can come up with their back payments.
3. Etymology: from Late Latin sequestrare, "to give up for safe keeping"; from sequester, "a depository, a trustee".

1. The formation of a piece of or a fragment of lifeless bone removed from physically-fit bone because of an injury or disease: Dr. Jones and Dr. McMahon were puzzled as to why Marcus developed the sequestration in his left leg.
2. The isolation of a patient: Since Fay's daughter had a virus that was easily transmitted to others, she was placed in sequestration by the hospital staff.
3. A net increase in the quantity of blood within a limited vascular area: Medical sequestrations occur physiologically with or without the forward flow of blood persisting or are produced artificially by the application of tourniquets.
4. In common law, juries are often kept together and not allowed contact with other people during a trial and the jury deliberations until they are discharged and even the witnesses can be restricted: The prosecutor, Mr. Smith, believed defense witnesses might change their versions of the facts if they were permitted to hear the other witnesses testify; so, to avoid that problem, he requested that Judge Evans order the sequestration of all the witnesses. The judge agreed and so he ordered that all potential witnesses be placed in sequestration from the courtroom and each other until they were called to testify one at a time.
5. The effective removal of ions from a solution by coordination with another type of ion or molecule to form complexes that do not have the same chemical behavior as the original ions: It has been discovered that microbes may play a critical role in the sequestration of carbon in the oceans through a system termed the "microbial carbon pump", or MCP.
6. A description of a fiscal policy established by the U.S. Congress to limit the size of the federal government's excessive spending: The prospect of sequestrations seems to have become so catastrophic that Congress so far has been unwilling to let it actually happen.

Congress has repeatedly decided to raise the Budget Resolution spending limits upward toward the end of the legislative session in order to match the actual totals already appropriated; therefore, sequestration has largely diminished the incentives that the reformed budget procedures were supposed to provide for Congress to get better control of the budget deficit.

A reference to government budget cuts: According to the Office of Management and Budget, the sequestration law forces agency heads to cut the same percentage from every program.

Most of the sequestration apocalypse, of which Obama's Cabinet has warned, relates to government-worker furloughs.

Someone who takes the possession of property until a legal decision has been made as to how it will be distributed: Lawrence was asked to be the sequestrator of Jason's finances pending the outcome of the litigation.

A sequestrator is also someone who stops the use of budget funds by governmental agencies as a result of spending restrictions.

The surgical removal of a piece of dead bone that has become separated during the process of necrosis (death or decay from irreparable injury) from a sound bone: As a result of Lorna's falling down the stairway, she had to have a sequestrectomy to remove the decomposing and decaying bone from her leg.

A piece of deteriorating bone that has become disconnected during the process of necrosis from a sound bone: When Shanna was walking on the icy street, she slipped and broke her arm and it became necessary that a surgeon remove the sequestrum before she would lose her entire arm.