1530s, "to limit, bound, confine (someone or something), prevent from passing a certain limit in any kind of action," from Latin restrictus, past participle of restringere "bind fast, restrain" (see restriction). Regarded 18c. as a Scottishism. Related: Restricted; restricting.

"limited, confined," 1830, past-participle adjective from restrict. Of government documents, etc., "secret, not for public release" it is recorded from 1944. Related: Restrictedly. The older adjective was simply restrict. In mid-20c. U.S., restricted was a euphemism for "off-limits to Jews" (1947).

Manager: "I'm sorry, Mr. Marx, but we can't let you use the pool; this country club is restricted."

Groucho: "Well, my daughter's only half-Jewish; could she go in up to her knees?" [there are many versions and variations of this story in print, some referencing a son instead, dating to his obituaries in 1977]

early 15c., restrictif, "serving to bind or draw together," specifically, in medicine (Chauliac) "staunching loss of blood, stringent, styptic," from Medieval Latin restrictivus, from Latin restrict-, past-participle stem of restringere "restrict, restrain" (see restriction). In reference to terms, etc., "imposing or implying restriction," 1570s. Related: Restrictively; restrictiveness.

"tight grip around a person's neck to restrict breathing," 1962, from choke (v.) + hold (n.1).

early 15c., restriccioun, "a cessation, the property of staunching bleeding," from Old French restriction (14c.) and directly from Late Latin restrictionem (nominative restrictio) "limitation," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin restringere "restrict, bind fast, restrain," from re- "back" (see re-) + stringere "draw tight" (see strain (v.)). General sense of "that which restricts" is by early 15c. Meaning "act, process, or fact of restricting; state of being restricted" is from 1620s.

late 14c., "set limits to, restrict within limits" (also "prescribe, fix, assign"), from Old French limiter "mark (a boundary), restrict; specify" (14c.), from Latin limitare "to bound, limit, fix," from limes "boundary, limit" (see limit (n.)). From early 15c. as "delimit, appoint or specify a limit." Related: limited; limiting; limitable.

1520s (transitive) "to restrict, make narrow," from strait (adj.) + -en (1). Related: straitened; straitening. Earlier verb was simply strait "to make narrow" (early 15c.).

past tense of awake (v.), from Old English awoc; also see awaken. The tendency has been to restrict the strong past tense (awoke) to the original intransitive sense of awake and the weak inflection (awakened) to the transitive, but this never has been complete.

past participle of awake (v.); also see awaken. The tendency has been to restrict the strong past participle (awoken) to the original intransitive sense of awake and the weak inflection (awakened) to the transitive, but this never has been complete.

1520s, "to border on, have a common boundary," a sense now obsolete, from French confiner "to border; to shut up, enclose," which is perhaps from the noun confins (see confines) or from Medieval Latin confinare "border on; set bounds." Sense of "restrict within bounds, keep within limits" is from 1590s. Related: Confined; confining.