impeachment
(ɪmˈpiːtʃmənt)
Also 5–7 em-; for Forms, see impeach v.
[a. OF. empechement, empeschement, mod.F. empêchement (whence med.L. impechementum, impechiamentum), f. empêche-r to impeach: see -ment. In senses 4, 5, the word was treated as the repr. of med.L. impetītio, from impetĕre to attack, accuse, with which however it had no etymological connexion.]
The action of impeaching.
† 1. Hindrance, prevention, obstruction; impediment, obstacle. Obs.
| 1432 Paston Lett. No. 18. I. 31 Eny thing that mighte yeve empeschement or let therto. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (1495) 94 The devyll..came to vysyte hym for to gyue to hym empesshement & lettynge in his contemplacyons. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xv, Nowe haue I..declared the chiefe impechementes of excellent lernynge. 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. ii. xx. 72/2 Thus without empechement or stoppe, passed Cassander through the countrey of Thessaly. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 140 He invaded Livonia without impeachment. 1621 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) 696/2 To breid confusioun and Empaschement to þe lordis in..decyding of materis. a 1674 Milton Hist. Mosc. iv, Boris..without impeachment now ascended the throne. |
† 2. Detriment, impairment, injury, damage. Obs.
| 1548 Gest Pr. Masse in H. G. Dugdale Life App. i. (1840) 136 Thee..unsufferable empechemente bothe of Christes honoure and our solles salvation. 1587 Harrison England ii. xxiii. (1877) i. 349 No man hath yet susteined anie manner of impeachment through the coldness of the water. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. iii. 15 To let him spend his time no more at home; Which would be great impeachment to his age. 1648 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 14 If they can attain the north without great impeachment..the game may yet be balanced to the purpose. |
3. A calling in question or discrediting; disparagement, depreciation.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 1281 Certaine armes..borne time out of minde, without chalenge or empechment. 1658 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 213 Without an impeachment to their honour. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 13 The reputation of my courage is sufficiently established not to expose it to any impeachment. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 111 The extreme injustice of this impeachment of their character. |
4. Accusation, charge. Obs. exc. in phr. the soft impeachment.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 165 If sche passe unhurte bare foot..uppon nyne brennynge cultres or schares, let here eskape of his enpechement [ab impetitione ista]. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xxii. 17 b, Thenne with an hye voys herd I one speke to my ful grete empesshement. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 22 The King prouok'd to it by the Queene, Deuis'd impeachments to imprison him. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 12 Be it thou beest neuer so harmles, that thou fearest no mans impeachment. 1775 Sheridan Rivals v. iii, Sir Lucius O'Trigger—ungrateful as you are—I own the soft impeachment—pardon my blushes, I am Delia. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. Introd. (1868) 33 A considerable impeachment of heresy. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 161 The Cigarette..denied the soft impeachment. |
b. Law. without impeachment of waste (= law L. absque impetitione vasti): ‘a reservation frequently made to a tenant for life, that no man shall proceed against him for waste committed’ (Wharton Law Lex.).
| 1415 E.E. Wills (1882) 25, I wolle that..my weyf [haue] it to terme of her lyue wyth-oute empeschement of wast. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 33 §1 To holde all the seid Maners..without impechment of Wast. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xviii. 283 Unless their leases be made..without impeachement of waste, absque impetitione vasti; that is, with a provision or protection that no man shall impetere, or sue him, for waste committed. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-Bk. Prop. Law xvii. 124 Under your marriage settlement you are tenant for life, without impeachment of waste. |
5. The accusation and prosecution of a person for treason or other high crime or misdemeanour before a competent tribunal; in Great Britain, ‘the judicial process by which any man, from the rank of a peer downwards, may be tried before the House of Lords at the instance of the House of Commons’ (Dict. Eng. Hist.); in U.S., a similar process in which the accusers are the House of Representatives and the court is the Senate.
| 1640–4 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 356 The Lords sat upon the Impeachment against the Judges and Bishop Wren. 1667 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 221 This morning severall members of our House did..move the House to proceed to an impeachment against the Earle of Clarinden. 1754–62 Hume Hist. Eng. III. 15 (Seager) The first impeachment by the house of commons seems to have been carried up against Lord Latimer in the latter end of Edward the Third's reign. 1789 Constit. U.S. ii. §4 The President, Vice-President, and all Civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 1805 S. Chase in Life Rufus King (1897) IV. 444 Congratulations on my acquittal by the Senate of the Impeachment by the House of Representatives. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. ix. 105 The articles of Strafford's impeachment. 1867 Nation (N.Y.) 14 Feb. 121 Discussion of the power of the Senate to suspend the President [Johnson] during his impeachment. |