Meaning

verb keep from happening or arising; make impossible

verb subject to foreclosing procedures; take away the right of mortgagors to redeem their mortgage

originPartially from Middle English foreclosen, forclosen, from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore (“to exclude”), from for- (“(prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy)”) + clore (“to shut”), and partially from Middle English forclusen (“to close up”), from Old English forclȳsan (“to close up”), equivalent to fore- + close.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0