Borrowed from Middle French lien, from Latin ligāmen, from ligō ("tie, bind").

• IPA: /ˈliːn/, /ˈliːən/
• Homophone: lean (IPA: /liːn/)

lien (plural liens)

1. (obsolete) A tendon.
2. (legal) A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 7:

     Bodin deemed the king of France's power as absolute in the sense that the ruler was ‘absolved’ by divine sanction from legally binding liens and restrictions.

• French: droit de rétention
• German: Zurückbehaltungsrecht, Retentionsrecht
• Italian: diritto di retenzione
• Portuguese: direito de retenção
• Russian: зало́говое пра́во
• Spanish: derecho de retención

• IPA: /ˈlaɪən/

1. (Bible, archaic) Alternative form of lain
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 26:10 ↗:

     And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done vnto vs? one of the people might lightly haue lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest haue brought guiltinesse vpon vs.”

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Numbers 5:19 ↗:

     And the Priest shall charge her by an othe, and say vnto the woman, If no man haue lyen with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to vncleannesse with another in stead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse.

Borrowed from Latin liēn.

• IPA: /ˈlaɪ.in/, /ˈlaɪ.ən/

lien (plural lienes)

1. (uncommon, possibly, obsolete) The spleen.

   Synonyms: milt

   • 1892, John Marie Keating, Henry Hamilton, John Chalmers Da Costa, A New Pronouncing Dictionary of Medicine:

     Li'enal. Pertaining to the lien or spleen; splenic.

   • 1914, Quain's Elements of Anatomy, volume 1, page 312:

     The lien or spleen (figs. 282 to 285) is a soft, highly vascular contractile and very elastic organ of a dark purplish colour. It is placed obliquely behind the stomach, [...]

• lienal
• lienic
• lieno-