attaint

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
7
Words With Friends
8
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/əˈteɪnt/

Definition of attaint

8 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. (obsolete)Convicted, attainted.
See all 8 definitions

adj

  1. (obsolete)Convicted, attainted.
  2. (obsolete)Attainted; corrupted.
    “My tender youth was never yet attaint With any passion of inflaming love,”

verb

  1. (archaic)To subject to attainder; to condemn (someone) to death and extinction of all civil rights.
    “Tom Truth is attainted. All he has — not much — is forfeit to the king, and he is entitled to nothing but a traitorʼs death.”
  2. (archaic)To subject to calumny; to accuse of a crime or dishonour.
    “CHARLES STUART. Attainted and proscribed by name and grade in his British regiment.”
  3. (archaic)To taint; to corrupt, sully.
    “Amoret right fearefull was and faint, / Lest she with blame her honor should attaint […].”
    “Jem felt that his own character had been attainted; and that to many it might still appear suspicious.”

noun

  1. (archaic)A blow or strike, especially in jousting.
    “This politic selection did not alter the fortune of the field, the challengers were still successful: one of their antagonists was overthrown, and both the others failed in the “attaint”, that is, in striking the helmet and shield of their antagonist firmly and strongly, with the lance held in a direct line, so that the weapon might break unless the champion was overthrown.”
    “At the moment of impact, the king’s eyes are open, his body braced for the atteint; he takes the blow perfectly, its force absorbed by a body securely armoured, moving in the right direction, moving at the right speed.”
  2. A wound on the leg of a horse caused by a blow.
  3. (obsolete)The giving of a false verdict by a jury; the conviction of such a jury, and the reversal of the verdict.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English atteinte, from Old French ateint, past participle of ateindre; in some senses influenced by taint.

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