attaint

American  

[uh-teynt] / əˈteɪnt /

verb (used with object)

1. Law. to condemn by a sentence or a bill or act of attainder.

2. to disgrace.

3. Archaic. to accuse.

4. Obsolete. to prove the guilt of.

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noun

1. Obsolete. a stain; disgrace; taint.

attaint British  

/ əˈteɪnt /

verb

1. to pass judgment of death or outlawry upon (a person); condemn by bill of attainder

2. to dishonour or disgrace

3. to accuse or prove to be guilty

4. (of sickness) to affect or strike (somebody)

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noun

1. a less common word for attainder

2. a dishonour; taint

Other Word Forms

• unattainted adjective

Etymology

Origin of attaint

1250–1300; Middle English ataynte, derivative of ataynt convicted < Anglo-French, Old French, past participle of ataindre to convict, attain

Example Sentences

For in an attaint under Henry the Sixt, one of the Jury challenged himselfe because his ancestors had been Baronets and Seigneurs des Parlements.

From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 90, July 19, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Geneologists, etc. by Various

If you are Tam O'Shanter, I cannot very well advise you to seek out some worthy young man for an associate and attaint his character and his reputation by clinging to him.

From The Golden Censer The duties of to-day, the hopes of the future by McGovern, John

With such janissaries and a penal code comprising everything in its elastic obscurity, there was no need for exceptional laws in order to attaint all Paris.

From History of the Commune of 1871 by Lissagary, P.

V. condemn, convict, cast, bring home to, find guilty, damn, doom, sign the death warrant, sentence, pass sentence on, attaint, confiscate, proscribe, sequestrate; nonsuit†. disapprove &c.

From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Roget, Peter Mark

What simple thief brags of his own attaint?

From The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by Clark, William George