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

Unneth thy flocks may feed to see thee faint, Thou lost, they lean, and both with woe attaint.

From Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles Phillis - Licia by Crow, Martha Foote

Ah lost am I, if thou, O Saint, Canst thus in thought my heart attaint: No warning charge from thee I need; Ne'er could such crime from me proceed.

From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)

No attaint lies, nor can a new trial be awarded.

From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady

May He have mercy on him who saith: Look thou thy hoariness preserve from aught that may it stain,      For whiteness still to take attaint is passing quick and      fain.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume III by Payne, John

Even to have kicked an outsider might have been held to attaint the foot concerned in that operation, so that, perhaps, it would have required an act of Parliament to restore its purity of blood.

From The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc by De Quincey, Thomas