interdict

Etymology

From Middle English entrediten, from Old French entredire (“forbid”), from Latin interdīcō (“prohibit, forbid”), from inter- (“between”) + dīcō (“say”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ-.

noun

1. A papal decree prohibiting the administration of the sacraments from a political entity under the power of a single person (e.g., a king or an oligarchy with similar powers). Extreme unction/Anointing of the Sick is excepted.
2. (Scotland, law) An injunction.
   In May [1995], the court issued an interdict preventing the service withdrawal, pending consultation on the closure to passenger traffic of three short stretches of railway around Glasgow and its hinterland that were only used by the Fort William Sleeper - and for which BR had failed to invoke standard closure procedures. August 25 2021, David Clough, “The Sleeper experience”, in RAIL, number 938, page 61

verb

1. (transitive, Roman Catholicism) To exclude (someone or somewhere) from participation in church services; to place under a religious interdict.
   An archbishop [may not only] excommunicate and interdict his suffragans, but his Vicar-General may also do the same.
2. (transitive) To forbid (an action or thing) by formal or legal sanction.
3. (transitive) To forbid (someone) from doing something.
4. (transitive, US, military) To impede (an enemy); to interrupt or destroy (enemy communications, supply lines etc).
   Grant did not cease his efforts to interdict Lee's supply lines and break through the defenses. 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2004, page 756