lienli·en /ˈliːən, liːn/ noun [countableC]LAW1a person’s or organization’s right to another’s property, usually the right of a lender to take a borrower’s property if they fail to repay a loan, or the right of people owed money by a company to take the assets of that company if it goes out of businessIt currently owes about $225 million to its lenders, who hold liens on all of the company’s real estate assets.
2exercise/file/place a lien to ask a law court to recognize that someone owes you money and to give you the right to take their assets to pay the debtThe city will file liens and judgments against properties that are one year behind in payment.
The carrier may exercise a lien on the cargo for the unpaid freight.
→ broker's lien → carrier’s lien → federal tax lien → first lien → general lien → priority lien → second lien → seller’s lien → tax lien