1833, John Trusler, chapter 8, inThe Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings[1], archived fromthe original on4 November 2011:
To heighten hisdistress, he is approached by his wife, and bitterly upbraided for his perfidy in concealing from her his former connexions (with that unhappy girl who is here present with her child, the innocent offspring of her amours, fainting at the sight of his misfortunes, being unable to relieve him farther), and plunging her into those difficulties she never shall be able to surmount.
At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity;distress; and finally delight.
1719, Daniel Defoe, chapter 13, inRobinson Crusoe[2], archived fromthe original on15 April 2012:
I immediately considered that this must be some ship indistress, and that they had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired these gun for signals ofdistress, and to obtain help.
1759, Voltaire, chapter 42, inCandide[3], archived fromthe original on17 March 2011:
At length they perceived a little cottage; two persons in the decline of life dwelt in this desert, who were always ready to give every assistance in their power to their fellow-creatures indistress.
(law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
(law) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
1596 (date written; published1633),Edmund Spenser,A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande[…], Dublin:[…] Societie of Stationers,[…],→OCLC; republished asA View of the State of Ireland[…] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin:[…] Society of Stationers,[…] Hibernia Press,[…][b]y John Morrison,1809,→OCLC:
If he were not paid, he would straight go and take adistress of goods and cattle.
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1894, James Kent with William Hardcastle Browne,Commentaries on American Law, page645:
This power ofdistress, as anciently used, became as oppressive as the feudal forfeiture. It was as hard for the tenant to be stripped in an instant of all his goods, for arrears of rent, as to be turned out of the possession of his farm.
Shedistressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.
1980, Bill Oddie,Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page58:
If you don't want to be considered a dude you shoulddistress your binoculars in the way that antique dealersdistress new paintings to make them look old.
