HOW TO PRONOUNCE
lien
/lin/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:13
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What does lien mean?
noun
- A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged.
More meanings (3)
noun
- (obsolete) tendon
- (obsolete) spleen (a ductless vascular gland)
verb
- (archaic) Alternative form of lain.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/lin/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
This was the man who, in spite of earnest protests from his own mother and the veteran statesman Lin Hsiang-ju, was now sent to succeed Lien P’o.
Many a poor man’s son would have lien still And ne’er have spoke a loving word to you; But you at your sick service had a prince.
More book examples (2)
Therefore, you have no lien on them, not even that of gratitude; you cannot say to a man: “I have prevented you having typhus, therefore you must attend my chapel.”
Mr. Casaubon was out of the question, not merely because he declined duty of this sort, but because Featherstone had an especial dislike to him as the rector of his own parish, who had a lien on the land in the shape of tithe, also as the deliverer of morning sermons, which the old man, being in his pew and not at all sleepy, had been obliged to sit through with an inward snarl.