Search Result for "attaint": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (2)

1. bring shame or dishonor upon;
- Example: "he dishonored his family by committing a serious crime"
[syn: dishonor, disgrace, dishonour, attaint, shame]

2. condemn by attainder;
- Example: "the man was attainted"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Attaint \At*taint"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attainted; p. pr. & vb. n. Attainting.] [OE. atteynten to convict, fr. atteynt, OF. ateint, p. p. of ateindre, ataindre. The meanings 3, 4, 5, and 6 were influenced by a supposed connection with taint. See Attain, Attainder.] 1. To attain; to get act; to hit. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2. (Old Law) To find guilty; to convict; -- said esp. of a jury on trial for giving a false verdict. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Upon sufficient proof attainted of some open act by men of his own condition. --Blackstone. [1913 Webster] 3. (Law) To subject (a person) to the legal condition formerly resulting from a sentence of death or outlawry, pronounced in respect of treason or felony; to affect by attainder. [1913 Webster] No person shall be attainted of high treason where corruption of blood is incurred, but by the oath of two witnesses. --Stat. 7 & 8 Wm. III. [1913 Webster] 4. To accuse; to charge with a crime or a dishonorable act. [Archaic] [1913 Webster] 5. To affect or infect, as with physical or mental disease or with moral contagion; to taint or corrupt. [1913 Webster] My tender youth was never yet attaint With any passion of inflaming love. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 6. To stain; to obscure; to sully; to disgrace; to cloud with infamy. [1913 Webster] For so exceeding shone his glistring ray, That Ph?bus' golden face it did attaint. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] Lest she with blame her honor should attaint. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Attaint \At*taint"\, p. p. Attainted; corrupted. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Attaint \At*taint"\, n. [OF. attainte. See Attaint, v.] 1. A touch or hit. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] 2. (Far.) A blow or wound on the leg of a horse, made by overreaching. --White. [1913 Webster] 3. (Law) A writ which lies after judgment, to inquire whether a jury has given a false verdict in any court of record; also, the convicting of the jury so tried. --Bouvier. [1913 Webster] 4. A stain or taint; disgrace. See Taint. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 5. An infecting influence. [R.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

attaint v 1: bring shame or dishonor upon; "he dishonored his family by committing a serious crime" [syn: dishonor, disgrace, dishonour, attaint, shame] [ant: honor, honour, reward] 2: condemn by attainder; "the man was attainted"
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ATTAINT, English law. 1. Atinctus, attainted, stained, or blackened. 2. A writ which lies to inquire whether a jury of twelve men gave a false verdict. Bract. lib. 4, tr. 1, c. 134; Fleta, lib. 5, c. 22, Sec. 8. 2. It was a trial by jury of twenty-four men empanelled to try the goodness, of a former verdict. 3 Bl. Com. 351; 3 Gilb. Ev. by Lofft, 1146. See Assize.