Emily Dickinson Lexicon

A-LI-EN-A'TION, n. [L. alienatio.]

1. A transfer of title; or a legal conveyance of property to another.
2. The state of being alienated.
3. A withdrawing or estrangement, as of the heart or affections.
4. Delirium; derangement of mental faculties; insanity. – Hooker. Alienation-office, in Great Britain, is an office to which all writs of covenant and entry, on which fines are levied and recoveries suffered, are carried, to have fines for alienation set and paid thereon. – Encyc.