- embargo (n.)
- "order forbidding ships from certain other nations from entering or leaving a nation's ports," 1590s, from Spanish embargo "seizure, arrest; embargo," noun of action from embargar "restrain, impede, arrest, embargo," from Vulgar Latin *imbarricare, from assimilated form of in- "into, upon" (see in- (2)) + *barra (see bar (n.1)). As a verb, from 1640s. Related: Embargoed.
