The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Floating charge \Floating charge\, lien \lien\, etc. (Law)
   A charge, lien, etc., that successively attaches to such
   assets as a person may have from time to time, leaving him
   more or less free to dispose of or encumber them as if no
   such charge or lien existed.

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lie \Lie\, v. i. [imp. Lay (l[=a]); p. p. Lain (l[=a]n),
   (Lien (l[imac]"[e^]n), Obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. Lying.]
   [OE. lien, liggen, AS. licgan; akin to D. liggen, OHG. ligen,
   licken, G. liegen, Icel. liggja, Sw. ligga, Dan. ligge, Goth.
   ligan, Russ. lejate, L. lectus bed, Gr. le`chos bed,
   le`xasqai to lie. Cf. Lair, Law, Lay, v. t., Litter,
   Low, adj.]
   1. To rest extended on the ground, a bed, or any support; to
      be, or to put one's self, in an horizontal position, or
      nearly so; to be prostate; to be stretched out; -- often
      with down, when predicated of living creatures; as, the
      book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies
      in his coffin.
      [1913 Webster]

            The watchful traveler . . .
            Lay down again, and closed his weary eyes. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To be situated; to occupy a certain place; as, Ireland
      lies west of England; the meadows lie along the river; the
      ship lay in port.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in
      a certain state or condition; as, to lie waste; to lie
      fallow; to lie open; to lie hid; to lie grieving; to lie
      under one's displeasure; to lie at the mercy of the waves;
      the paper does not lie smooth on the wall.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding
      place; to consist; -- with in.
      [1913 Webster]

            Envy lies between beings equal in nature, though
            unequal in circumstances.             --Collier.
      [1913 Webster]

            He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard
            labor, forgets the early rising and hard riding of
            huntsmen.                             --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To lodge; to sleep.
      [1913 Webster]

            Whiles I was now trifling at home, I saw London, . .
            . where I lay one night only.         --Evelyn.
      [1913 Webster]

            Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night. --Dickens.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
      [1913 Webster]

            The wind is loud and will not lie.    --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. (Law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being
      maintained. "An appeal lies in this case." --Parsons.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Through ignorance or carelessness speakers and writers
         often confuse the forms of the two distinct verbs lay
         and lie. Lay is a transitive verb, and has for its
         preterit laid; as, he told me to lay it down, and I
         laid it down. Lie is intransitive, and has for its
         preterit lay; as, he told me to lie down, and I lay
         down. Some persons blunder by using laid for the
         preterit of lie; as, he told me to lie down, and I laid
         down. So persons often say incorrectly, the ship laid
         at anchor; they laid by during the storm; the book was
         laying on the shelf, etc. It is only necessary to
         remember, in all such cases, that laid is the preterit
         of lay, and not of lie.
         [1913 Webster]

   To lie along the shore (Naut.), to coast, keeping land in
      sight.

   To lie at the door of, to be imputable to; as, the sin,
      blame, etc., lies at your door.

   To lie at the heart, to be an object of affection, desire,
      or anxiety. --Sir W. Temple.

   To lie at the mercy of, to be in the power of.

   To lie by.
      (a) To remain with; to be at hand; as, he has the
          manuscript lying by him.
      (b) To rest; to intermit labor; as, we lay by during the
          heat of the day.

   To lie hard or To lie heavy, to press or weigh; to bear
      hard.

   To lie in, to be in childbed; to bring forth young.

   To lie in one, to be in the power of; to belong to. "As
      much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." --Rom.
      xii. 18.

   To lie in the way, to be an obstacle or impediment.

   To lie in wait, to wait in concealment; to lie in ambush.


   To lie on or To lie upon.
      (a) To depend on; as, his life lies on the result.
      (b) To bear, rest, press, or weigh on.

   To lie low, to remain in concealment or inactive. [Slang]


   To lie on hand,

   To lie on one's hands, to remain unsold or unused; as, the
      goods are still lying on his hands; they have too much
      time lying on their hands.

   To lie on the head of, to be imputed to.
      [1913 Webster]

            What he gets more of her than sharp words, let it
            lie on my head.                       --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   To lie over.
      (a) To remain unpaid after the time when payment is due,
          as a note in bank.
      (b) To be deferred to some future occasion, as a
          resolution in a public deliberative body.

   To lie to (Naut.), to stop or delay; especially, to head as
      near the wind as possible as being the position of
      greatest safety in a gale; -- said of a ship. Cf. To
      bring to, under Bring.

   To lie under, to be subject to; to suffer; to be oppressed
      by.

   To lie with.
      (a) To lodge or sleep with.
      (b) To have sexual intercourse with.
      (c) To belong to; as, it lies with you to make amends.
          [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lien \Li"en\ (l[imac]"[e^]n), obs.
   p. p. of Lie. See lain. --Ps. lxviii. 13.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lien \Lien\ (l[=e]n or l[imac]"[e^]n; 277), n. [F. lien band,
   bond, tie, fr. L. ligamen, fr. ligare to bind. Cf. League a
   union, Leam a string, Leamer, Ligament.] (Law)
   A legal claim; a charge upon real or personal property for
   the satisfaction of some debt or duty; a right in one to
   control or hold and retain the property of another until some
   claim of the former is paid or satisfied.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

lien
    n 1: the right to take another's property if an obligation is
         not discharged
    2: a large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body
       between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells
       involved in immune responses [syn: spleen, lien]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

34 Moby Thesaurus words for "lien":
   adjustment mortgage, antichresis, blanket mortgage, bottomry,
   bottomry bond, chattel mortgage, closed mortgage, common-law lien,
   dead pledge, deed of trust, first mortgage, general lien, hypothec,
   hypothecation, installment mortgage, judgment lien,
   leasehold mortgage, living pledge, mortgage, mortgage bond,
   mortgage deed, mortuum vadium, participating mortgage,
   particular lien, pignus judiciale, pignus legale, second mortgage,
   security agreement, statutory lien, tax lien, third mortgage,
   trust mortgage, vadium mortuum, vadium vivum



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

LIEN, contracts. In its most extensive signification, this term includes
every case in which real or personal property is charged with the payment of
any debt or duty; every such charge being denominated a lien on the
property. In a more limited sense it is defined to be a right of detaining
the property of another until some claim be satisfied. 2 East 235; 6 East
25; 2 Campb. 579;  2 Meriv. 494; 2 Rose, 357; 1 Dall. R. 345.
     2. The right of lien generally arises by operation of law, but in some
cases it is created by express contract.
     3. There are two kinds of lien; namely, particular and general. When a
person claims a right to retain property, in respect of money or labor
expended on such particular property, this is a particular lien. Liens may
arise in three ways: 1st. By express contract. 2d. From implied contract, as
from general or particular usage of trade. 3d. By legal relation between the
parties, which may be created in three ways; When the law casts an
obligation on a party to do a particular act, and in return for which, to
secure him payment, it gives him such lien; 1 Esp. R. 109; 6 East, 519; 2
Ld. Raym. 866; common carriers and inn keepers are among this number. 2.
When goods are delivered to a tradesman or any other, to expend his labor
upon, he is entitled to detain those goods until he is remunerated for the
labor which he so expends. 2 Roll. Ab. 92; 3 M. & S. 167; 14 Pick. 332; 3
Bouv. Inst. n. 2514. 3. When goods have been saved from the perils of the
sea, the salvor may detain them until his claim for salvage is satisfied;
but in no other case has the finder of goods, a lien. 2 Salk. 654; 5 Burr.
2732; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2518. General liens arise in three ways; 1. By the
agreement of the parties. 6 T. R.14; 3 Bos. & Pull. 42. 2. By the general
usage of trade. 3. By particular usage of trade. Whitaker on Liens 35; Prec.
Ch. 580; 1 Atk. 235; 6 T. R. 19.
     4. It may be proper to consider a few, general principles: 1. As to the
manner in which a lien may be acquired. 2. To what claims liens properly
attach. 3. How they may be lost. 4. Their effect.
     5.-1. How liens may be acquired. To create a valid lien, it is
essential, 1st. That the party to whom or by whom it is acquired should have
the absolute property or ownership of the thing, or, at least, a right to
vest it. 2d. That the party claiming the lien should have an actual or
constructive, possession, with the assent of the party against whom the
claim is made. 3 Chit. Com. Law, 547; Paley on Ag. by Lloyd, 137; 17 Mass.
R. 197; 4 Campb. R. 291; 3 T. R. 119 and 783; 1 East, R. 4; 7 East, R. 5; 1
Stark. R. 123; 3 Rose, R. 955; 3 Price, R. 547; 5 Binn. R. 392. 3d. That the
lien should arise upon an agreement, express or implied, and not be for a
limited or specific purpose inconsistent with the express terms, or the
clear, intent of the contract; 2 Stark. R. 272; 6 T. R. 258; 7 Taunt. 278;.
5 M. & S. 180; 15 Mass. 389, 397; as, for example, when goods are deposited
to be delivered to a third person, or to be transported to another place.
Pal. on Ag. by Lloyd, 140.
     6.-2. The debts or claims to which liens properly attach. 1st. In
general, liens properly attach on liquidated demands, and not on those which
sound only in damages; 3 Chit. Com. Law, 548; though by an express contract
they may attach even in such a case as, where the goods are to be held as an
indemnity against a future contingent claim or damages. Ibid. 2d. The claim
for which the lien is asserted, must he due to the party claiming it in his
own right, and not merely as agent of a third person. It must be a debt or
demand due from the very person for whose benefit the party is acting, and
not from a third person, although the goods may be claimed through him. Pal.
Ag. by Lloyd, 132.
     7.-3. How a lien may be lost. 1st. It may be waived or lost by any
act or agreement between the parties, by which it is surrendered, or becomes
inapplicable. 2d. It may also be lost by voluntarily parting with the
possession of the goods. But to this rule there are some exceptions; for
example, when a factor by lawful authority sells the goods of his principal,
and parts with the possession under the sale he is not, by this act, deemed
to lose his lien, but it attaches to the proceeds of the sale in the hands
of the vendee.
     8.-4. The effect of liens. In general, the right of the holder of the
lien is confined to the mere right of retainer. But when the creditor has
made advances on the goods of a factor, he is generally invested with the
right to sell. Holt's N P. Rep. 383; 3 Chit. Com. Law, 551; 2 Liverm. Ag.
103; 2 Kent's Com. 642, 3d ed. In some cases where the lien would not confer
power to sell, a court of equity would decree it. 1 Story Eq. Jur. Sec. 566;
2 Story, Eq. Jur. Sec. 1216; Story Ag. Sec. 371. And courts of admiralty
will decree a sale to satisfy maritime liens. Ab. Sh. pt. 3, c10. Sec. 2;
Story, Ag. Sec. 371.
     9. Judgments rendered in courts of record are generally liens on the
real estate of the defendants or parties against whom such judgments are
given. In  Alabama, Georgia and Indiana, judgment is a lien; in the last
mentioned state, it continues for ten years from January 1, 1826, if it was
rendered from that time; if, after ten years from the rendition of the
judgment, and when the proceedings are stayed by order of the court, or by
an agreement recorded, the time of its suspension is not reckoned in the ten
years. A judgment does not bind lands in Kentucky, the lien commences by the
delivery of execution to the sheriff, or officer. 4 Pet. R. 366; 1 Dane's R.
360. The law seems to be the same in Mississippi. 2 Hill. Ab. c. 46, s. 6.,
In New Jersey, the judgments take priority among themselves in the order the
executions on them have been issued. The lien of a judgment and the decree
of a court of chancery continue a lien in New York for ten years, and bind
after acquired lands. N. Y. Stat. part 3, t. 4, s. 3. It seems that a
judgment is a lien in North Carolina, if an elegit has been sued out, but
this is perhaps not settled. 2 Murph. R. 43. The lien of a judgment in Ohio
is confined to the county, and continues only for one year, unless revived.
It does not, per se, bind after acquired lands. In Pennsylvania, it
commences with the rendering of judgment, and continues five years from the
return day of that term. It does not, per se, bind after acquired lands. It
may be revived by scire facias, or an agreement of the parties, and terre
tenants, written and filed. In South Carolina and Tennessee a judgment is
also a lien. In the New England states, lands are attached by mesne process
or on the writ, and a lien is thereby created. See 2 Hill. Ab. c. 46.
    10. Liens are also divided into legal and equitable. The former are
those which may be enforced in a court of law; the latter are valid only in
a court of equity. The lien which the vendor of real estate has on the
estate sold, for the purchase money remaining unpaid, is a familiar example
of an equitable lien. Math. on Pres. 392. Vide Purchase money. Vide,
generally, Yelv. 67, a; 2 Kent, Com. 495; Pal Ag. 107; Whit. on Liens; Story
on Ag. ch. 14, Sec. 351, et seq: Hov. Fr. 35.
    11. Lien of mechanics and material men. By virtue of express statutes in
several of the states, mechanics and material men, or persons who furnish
materials for the erection of houses or other buildings, are entitled to a
lien or preference in the payment of debts out of the houses and buildings
so erected, and to the land, to a greater or lessor extent, on which they
are erected. A considerable similarity exists in the laws of the different
states which have legislated on this subject.
    12. The lien generally attaches from the commencement of the work or the
furnishing of materials, and continues for a limited period of time. In some
states, a claim must be filed in the office of the clerk or prothonotary of
the court, or a suit brought within a limited time. On the sale of the
building these liens are to be paid pro rata. In some states no lien is
created unless the work done or the goods furnished amount to a certain
specified sum, while in others there is no limit to the amount. In general,
none but the original contractors can claim under the law; sometimes,
however, sub-contractors have the same right.
    13. The remedy is various; in some states, it is by scire facias on the
lien, in others, it is by petition to the court for an order of sale: in
some, the property is subject to foreclosure, as on a mortgage; in others,
by a common action. See 1 Hill. Ab. ch. 40, p. 354, where will be found an
abstract of the laws of the several states, except the state of Louisiana;
for the laws of that state, see Civ. Code of Louis. art. 2727 to 2748. See
generally, 5 Binn. 585; 2 Browne, R. 229, n. 275; 2 Rawle  R. 316; Id. 343;
3 Rawle, R. 492; 5 Rawle R. 291; 2 Whart. R. 223; 2 S. & R. 138; 14 S. & R.
32; 12 S. & R. 301; 3 Watts, R. 140, 141; Id. 301; 5 Watts, R. 487; 14 Pick.
P,. 49; Serg. on Mech. Liens.