Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-FORCE'MENT, n.

1. The holding of lands or tenements to which another person has a right; a general term including abatement, intrusion, disseisin, discontinuance, or any other species of wrong, by which he that hath a right to the freehold is kept out of possession. – Blackstone.
2. In Scotland, a resisting of an officer in the execution of law.