officially confiscated or taken possession of property, money, or animals by legal authority, or locked up and trapped in a confined space.
From Old French 'empounder,' combining 'em-' (into) and 'pound' (an enclosure). Later influenced by 'pound' meaning a place where stray animals are kept.
Cars get 'impounded' in pounds (enclosures), and the word comes from medieval times when strays would be locked in an actual pound! The term is often used for illegal documents or evidence that courts seize—police literally lock them in evidence rooms called impound lots.
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