replevin

Anglo-Norman, from Old French replevir (“recover”), from re- + plevir (apparently from a Germanic word which was also the source of English pledge).

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈplɛvɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɛvɪn

replevin (plural replevins)

1. (law) An action to recover personal property unlawfully taken, especially that seized by way of distraint; the writ or procedure of such action.

replevin (third-person singular simple present replevins, present participle replevining, simple past and past participle replevined)

1. (transitive) To replevy.
   • 1998, Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plain:

     Arranged about her are artificial flowers that appear in their varied pale and pastel colors to be faded from the sun. As if perhaps replevined from some desert grave.