foreclose
verb
[ fɔːˈkləʊz ]
• take possession of a mortgaged property when the mortgagor fails to keep up their mortgage payments.
• "the bank was threatening to foreclose on his mortgage"
• rule out or prevent (a course of action).
• "the decision effectively foreclosed any possibility of his early rehabilitation"
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore, from for- ‘out’ (from Latin foras ‘outside’) + clore ‘to close’. The original sense was ‘bar from escaping’, in late Middle English ‘shut out’, and ‘bar from doing something’ (foreclose (sense 2)), hence specifically ‘bar someone from redeeming a mortgage’ (foreclose (sense 1), early 18th century).
