[f. FORECLOSE v. + -URE.] The action of foreclosing (a mortgage) or depriving (a mortgagor) of the power of redeeming a mortgaged estate; a proceeding to bar the right of redeeming mortgaged property.
1728. Vernon, Rep., II. 235. The Defendant pleaded the former suit and decree of foreclosure.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), II. 103. Alleging that the decree of foreclosure was obtained by surprise, fraud, and imposition, and praying it might be reversed.
1875. Le Fanu, Willing to Die, xxxiv. 202. Attorneys, foreclosures, bills of exchange hovering threateningly in the air, and biding their brief time to pounce upon him, all lost their horrors, for a little, in the exhilarating news.
transf. 1865. Daily Tel., 6 Nov., 5/4. The Arab … has been driven by foreclosure from the plains into the mountains.
attrib. 1862. Macm. Mag., VI. July, 185/2. The advertisements, which occupy two of the four pages, are chiefly of patent medicines, business cards, and foreclosure sales.
