embargo
Definitions
General English
- noun an official ban on trade
Accounting
- noun a period of time during which specific information in a press release must not be published
- verb to stop trade, or not to allow something to be traded
Banking
- noun a government order which stops a type of trade, such as exports to or other commercial activity with another country
Commerce
- verb not to allow publication of information for a period of time
Media Studies
- noun a request not to release material until a particular time or date
Politics
- noun a government order which stops something, e.g. a type of trade
- verb to stop something, or not to allow something to take place
Origin & History of “embargo”
Something that has been embargoed has been literally ‘placed behind bars’ (compare (embarrass)). The word comes from vulgar Latin *imbarricāre, which was formed from the Latin prefix in- ‘in’ and Vulgar Latin *barra (source of English bar). this passed into Spanish as embargar ‘impede, restrain’, and its derived noun embargo was borrowed into English.
