▪ I. arraign, v.1
(əˈreɪn)
Forms: 4 arayne, 4–5 areyne, ar(r)ene, 5 arenȝi, arreyne, 5–6 arreygne, -aynge, 6–7 arrain(e, -eign, 7 araigne, arraigne, 6– arraign. Aphet. 5–6 reyne, reygne.
[a. AF. araine-r, areine-r, arene-r, OF. arais-, areis-, aresnier:—L. adratiōnāre, f. ad to + ratiōnāre to reason, talk reasonably, talk, f. ratiōn-em reason, reasoning, discourse. The later F. araisonner was adopted in Eng. as areason.]
† 1. trans. To call (a person) to account, or to answer for himself; to interrogate, examine. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 191 Arayned hym [Jonah] ful runyschly what raysoun he hade..to slepe so faste. c 1360 Mercy 85 in E.E.P. (1862) 121 Þeose are þe werkes of Merci, Of whuche crist wol vs areyne. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. IV. 303 Augustus areyned [interrogavit] hym and seide. 1447 O. Bokenham Lyvys of Seyntys 15 He hyr thus areynyd wyth a pale faas. |
2. esp. To call upon one to answer for himself on a criminal charge; to indict before a tribunal. Hence gen. To accuse, charge with fault.
| a 1400 Leg. Rood 147 To a-rene Wrecches þat wraþþe þi chylde. 1450 Somner in 4 C. Eng. Lett. 4 He was arreyned upon the appechements and fonde gylty. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fa. 42 The Sheepe againe before the Wolfe arenȝied. 1528 More Heresyes iii. Wks. 212/2 Y{supt} were arreygned for a felonye. 1542 Brinklow Complaynt v. (1874) 18 The day whan ye shal be reygned at the iudgement seate of God. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. ii. 14 Thou art here accused and arraigned of High Treason. 1722 De Foe Moll Fl. (1840) 310, I was carried down to the Sessions house, where I was arraigned. 1754 Richardson Grandison IV. xxiv. 177 Lady Olivia is grieved..and arraigns herself and her wicked passion. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 129 For that crime he was arraigned..before the King and his Witan. |
3. To accuse of some fault or imperfection, impeach, call in question, find fault with (actions, measures, statements, opinions).
| 1672 Dryden Conq. Granada i. i, Judge-like thou sit'st, to praise or to arraign The flying Skirmish of the darted Cane. 1772 Junius Lett. Pref. 10 They arraign the goodness of Providence. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xxiv. 681 He boldly arraigned the abuses of public and private life. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. v. i. 269 You do not then..arraign our equity? |
b. absol.
| 1746 Smollett Reproof 202 And let me still the sentiment disdain Of him, who never speaks but to arraign. |
† 4. To try, judge. Obs. rare.
| 1623 Heming & Cond. in Shaks. C. Praise 145 Though you be a Magistrate of wit, and sit on the Stage..to arraigne Playes dailie. |
† 5. To sentence, condemn. Obs. rare.
| 1658 J. Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 1102 When they finde they are arraigned to die. |
▪ II. † aˈrraign, v.2 Law. Obs.
Also 6–7 araine, arraine.
[a. late AFr. arraigner, arainer, the latter originating in a mis-spelling of aramer, OF. aramier, also aramir, cogn. w. Pr. aramir, OCat. aremir (Diez) :—late L. adhramīre (adrh-, adchr-, adcr-) in Salic and Longobard Laws; f. ad to + *hramīre (in Pr. ramir), according to Grimm and Diez ad. Goth. hramjan, whence ushramjan to crucify, perh. to hang up. In England, the AFr. aramer was re-latinized as arramāre (in Bracton, Fleta).
The Goth. hramjan is prob. cogn. w. Gr. κρεµα- ‘hang.’ The literal sense in which it was taken into late L. is unknown: Müllenhoff (in Waitz, Alte Recht der sal. Franken, 277) shows that it probably named some sensible, perhaps symbolical, action, which was afterwards disused and forgotten, while the technical phrases containing the word remained: see adramire sacramentum, testimonia, testes, vadium, bellum, arramare assisam, in Ducange. The true origin of arraign in this sense was pointed out by Spelman (s.v. Adrhamire), but as he unfortunately failed to see that it was a distinct word from the prec., and took aramer as the source of both, his successors rejected his truth along with his error, and in all Dictionaries this word now erroneously stands as a sense of the prec.]
To appeal to, claim, demand; in phr. arraine (i.e. arrame) an assize.
| [c 1275 Bracton iv. i. 15 Et arramavit assisam novæ disseysinæ. c 1290 Britton iii. vi. 13 Si ambedeus eynt arramé assise de mort de auncestre vers une estraunge persone. 1481 Littleton §442 Si home seit disseisi, et il arraine un assise envers le disseisour.] 1528 Perkins Profit. Bk. v. §377 If his disseisor arraign an assise against him. 1574 tr. Littleton Tenures 78 a, The lessee arraineth an assise of Novel disseisin of y⊇ land againste the lessour. 1628 Coke On Litt. 262 b, To arraigne the Assise is to cause the Tenant to be called, to make the plaint, and to set the cause in such order as the Tenant may bee enforced to answer thereunto; and is deriued of the French word Arraigner. 1641 Termes de la Ley 26 Arraine is to put a thing in order, or in his place: As hee is said to arraine an Assise of Novel Disseisin. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland in Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 126. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Arraign. |
▪ III. arraign, n.
(əˈreɪn)
[f. arraign v.1]
Arraignment, indictment.
| 1638 Heywood Rape Lucr. 187 The freest Citizens without attaint, Arraigne, or judgement, we to exile doome. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 645 The clerk of the arraigns stood up in great disorder. |