From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlienli‧en /ˈliːən, liːn/ noun [countable + on] lawSCL the legal right to keep something that belongs to someone who owes you money, until the debt has been paid
Examples from the Corpus
lien• The trial judge instructed the jury to ignore the concept of a lien.• A blanket lien is the least complex arrangement and is comparable to pledging accounts receivable.• Inventory Financing Inventory financing is commonly arranged through blanket liens, trust receipts, or field-warehousing arrangement5.• The glum history of the heath lien gives reason to fear that these related forms may follow it into oblivion.• The owner can still sell the goods even though they are in possession of the repairer who is exercising his lien.• A confident style in which echoes from the past meet strong modern liens.• Where delivery is made in instalments, the extent of the unpaid seller's lien depends upon whether the contract is severable.• Kawaja owes $ 66,541 in unpaid income taxes and penalties, according to federal tax liens.From Longman Business Dictionarylienli‧en /ˈliːən, liːn/ noun [countable]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 lienOrigin lien (1500-1600) French Latin ligamen, from ligare “to tie” 