lien

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A claim upon a part of another's property that arises because of an unpaid debt related to that property and that operates as an encumbrance on the property until the debt is satisfied.
• noun The right to hold another's property as security for a debt owed.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The spleen.
• noun An obsolete or archaic past participle of lie.
• noun In law: The right of a person having possession of the property of another to retain it until some charge upon it or some demand due him is satisfied; the right to enforce a charge upon a specific thing by withholding possession from the owner until the charge is satisfied.
• noun Hence— A right of a creditor to have a debt or charge satisfied by legal proceedings out of specific property or its proceeds, irrespective of having possession.
• noun Hence A claim; occasion of demand; right to compensation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• p. p. of lie. See lain.
• noun (Law) A legal claim; a charge upon real or personal property for the satisfaction of some debt or duty; a right in one to control or hold and retain the property of another until some claim of the former is paid or satisfied.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun obsolete A tendon.
• noun law A legal claim; a charge upon real or personal property for the satisfaction of some debt or duty.
• verb biblical, archaic Alternative form of lain.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells involved in immune responses
• noun the right to take another's property if an obligation is not discharged