▪ I. † aˈttaint, ppl. a. Obs.
Forms: 4–5 ateynt, ataynt, atteynt, -aynt, (4 atenkt) 5 atteint, 6–8 attaint.
[a. OF. ateint, ataint, mod. atteint, pa. pple. of a(t)teindre to attain, formed like teindre, teint, joindre, joint, etc., and not from L. attactus. (Cf. peindre, peint, for L. pictus.) Hence, erroneously latinized in med.L. as attinctus, and referred, in England at least, to L. tinctus ‘dyed, stained,’ an etymological fancy which warped the meaning of the word and its derivatives.]
1. Convicted, attainted. Used orig. as pa. pple. of attain, subseq. of attaint v.; also as adj.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12628 Þat we be neuer more ateynt For fals shryvyng. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 340 Atteint they were by the lawe And demed for to honge and drawe. c 1460 Launfal 761 Fyle ataynte traytour! 1642 Declar., Votes, etc. conc. Magaz. at Hull 14 That..he, or they, be in no wise convict or attaint of high Treason. 1768 Blackstone Comm. IV. 373 He is then called attaint, attinctus, stained, or blackened. He is no longer of any credit or reputation. |
2. Affected with sickness, passion, etc.; infected.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3065 Wyþ pryde are swyche men ateynte. c 1315 Shoreham 103 That he ne schel soffry ther hys [wo], As he [is] here atenkt. c 1500 Blowbol's Test. in Halliwell Nugæ Poet. 1, I trow he was infecte certeyn With the faitour..Or with a sekenesse called a knave ateynt. |
3. Overcome with heat, weariness, or fatigue; overpowered, exhausted. [In this sense perhaps partly due to F. éteint.]
| c 1325 Cœur de L. 6131 In the hete they wer almost ateynt. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 333 If he beo þer in batail atteynt {revsc} þou lest þy los þerfore. Ibid. 3612 Ys sted wax al ateynte. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ix, With weriness atteynt. 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) II. 276 And suffered him till he was nigh attaint, and then he ran upon him. |
▪ II. attaint, v.
(əˈteɪnt)
Forms: 4–6 ataynt(e, 5–6 ateynt(e, atteynt, (attend), 5–7 attaynt, atteint, (6 attent) 6– attaint. Aphetic taint.
[f. attaint ppl. a. (cf. to convict), which was also used as pa. pple. of this, for a considerable time, till attainted took its place. Attaint had thus originally some of the early senses of attain; but its subseq. development was affected by its being associated in fancy with taint v.1 (F. taindre, teindre, pa. pple. taint, teint:—L. tingĕre, tinctus, to steep, dye, stain), with which its aphetic form coincided; so that in some senses, it passed into the latter vb.]
I. To touch, get at; = attain.
† 1. To touch, get at with a blow, to hit in tilting; = attain v. i. Obs.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccclxv. 597 The seconde course they met and ataynted. Ibid. II. clxviii. [clxiv.] 470 They ran togider, and tainted eche other on y⊇ helmes. 1530 Palsgr. 439/2, I atteynt, I hyt or touche a thyng, Jattayngs. He attaynted hym upon the myddes of the helmet. |
† 2. To get at the facts, find out, ascertain; = attain v. 9. Obs.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. xiii. 266 The causes that ben obscure and hidd may be therby attainted and knowen. |
II. To convict, prove, accuse, condemn.
† 3. To convict, prove guilty. Obs.
| c 1340 Cursor M. (Fairf.) 5512 Ȝou be-houys to wirke ful quaynte and in þaire dedis ham attaynt. 1440 Promp. Parv. 16 Atteyntyn, Convinco. 1499 Plumpton Corr. 141 Parkin Warbek and other iij were arreyned..They all were attended, and judgment given. 1768 Blackstone Comm. IV. 79 That the accused be..upon sufficient proof attainted of some open act by men of his own condition. |
† 4. To prove (a charge). Obs.
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 21 Gif it be otherwaies attainted (or proven). |
† 5. Old Law. To convict a jury of having given a false verdict; to bring an action to reverse the verdict of a jury as false. Obs.
| [1292 Britton iv. ix. §4 Se il avent qe les jurours de acune petite assise eynt fet..faus serment..purrount il estre atteintz en plusours maneres. 1865 Nichols transl., If it happens that the jurors in any petty assise have taken a false oath, they may..be attainted in several ways.] 1528 Perkins Prof. Bk. v. §383 (1642) 166 Before that this verdict be attainted by the heire in a writ of attaint. 1667 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. viii. (1743) 194 The Punishment of Petty-Jurors attainted of giving a verdict contrary to evidence, wittingly, is severe. |
6. To condemn (one convicted of treason or felony) to death, corruption of blood, and extinction of all civil rights and capacities; to subject to attainder, whether by judicial sentence, or by Act of Parliament without a judicial trial. (Influenced by its erroneously assumed relation to taint, whence the idea of ‘corruption of blood.’)
| c 1340 Cursor M. (Fairf.) 1114 He þat flemed first adam..he..sal caym sone a-taynt. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 1 A parleament, at whiche were atteynted Kynge Herry and all othere that fledde with hym. 1551 T. Wilson Logike 16 All such as use deceipt in bargayning..and shalbe atteinted there⁓upon as fellones. 1679 Hobbes Dial. Com. Laws, To be attainted is, that his Blood be held in Law as stained and corrupted. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4013/4 Edward Patchell..attainted of Murther in the City of Chester. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 31 Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continued usurpation? 1844 Brougham Brit. Const. xiii. (1862) 195 On Edward IV's victory, they [Parliament] unanimously attainted Henry IV. |
7. To accuse of crime or dishonour. arch. (Also in OF.)
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 227 How processe ought to proceede against those that are attainted of it [i.e. adultery], and how such as are convicted thereof are to be punished. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 24 Gif any man..salbe attaynted and convict of such alienation. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe II. xv. 265 Rebecca..being attainted of sorcery..doth deny the same. 1883 Howell Undisc. Country I. 71 Who are you to attaint me of unworthy motives? |
III. To lay hold of (as sickness), affect, infect.
8. To touch, strike, or seize upon, as a disease or other bodily or mental affection; to affect.
| [a 1400 Cov. Myst. (1841) 223 If dedly syknes have you ateynt.] c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 199 Ethelwolphus..was attainted with an easie sicknes. 1591 Greene Maiden's Dr. (1861) 277 And like to one whom sorrow deep attaints. 1598 Hist. Parismus i. (1661) 267 Which sight attainted her heart with such grief. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 561 His foule disease, continually attainting him with intolerable paines. 1688 Dryden Brit. Rediv. 175 The same shivering sweat his lord attaints. |
† 9. (Influenced by taint): To affect with any contagion; to infect. Obs.
| c 1525 Skelton Col. Clout 902 They be so attaynted With coveytous and ambycyon. 1536 Bellendene Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 102 That he suld fall in Pelagius heresyis; howbeit all othir Scottis kingis afore him war nevir attentit with sic thingis. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. v. 81 My tender youth was neuer yet attaint With any passion of inflaming loue. 1631 G. Webbe Pract. Quietnesse (1657) 84 If thou be attainted with any of these evil properties. |
10. (In full sense of taint): To touch or impregnate with something corrupting; to infect with corruption, poison, etc.
| 1580 [see attainted 4]. 1608 J. King Serm. 1 Chron. xxix. 26–8, 23 Dead flies wil atteint the swetest ointments of Apothecaries. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. xii. 77 When secret Vlcers shall attaint thy breath. 1849 De Quincey Mail Coach Wks. IV. 290 Even to have kicked an outsider might have been held to attaint the foot. |
b. fig. To sully (lustre, purity, etc.).
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 35 Phoebus golden face it did attaint, As when a cloud his beames doth over-lay. Ibid. iv. i. 5 Lest she with blame her honour should attaint. 1718 Pope Iliad vi. 564 How would the sons of Troy..Attaint the lustre of my former name? 1856 Milman in Q. Rev. XCIX. 6 No breath of calumny ever attainted the personal purity of Savonarola. |
11. (Blending the preceding with fig. use of 7.)
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 288 Wherein a good name hath bin wrongfully attainted. 1815 Southey Roderick viii. 15 His mother's after-guilt attainting not the claim legitimate he derived from her. |
▪ III. attaint, n.
(əˈteɪnt)
Forms as in vb.; also 6 atteinct.
[a. OF. ateinte, atainte, n. from fem. of ateint, pa. pple. of ateindre; see attaint ppl. a.]
1. The act of touching or hitting; spec. a ‘hit’ in tilting. arch.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxviii. (clxiv.) 473 The first course, they strake eche other on their helmes a great attaynt. 1600 Chapman Iliad xvii. 6 Nor to pursue his first attaint Euphorbus' spirit forbore. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe ix, Both the others failed in the attaint. 1820 ― Monast. (1867) 458/1 note, Attaint was a term of tilting used to express the champion's having attained his mark; or in other words, struck his lance straight and fair against the helmet or breast of his adversary. |
† 2. fig. A dint, a blow (of misfortune, etc.). Obs. [Cf. Fr. les atteintes de la mauvaise fortune, etc.]
| 1655 Jennings Elise Epist. Ded., Generous hearts laugh at the attaints of fortune. |
3. Vet. Surg.. A blow or wound on the leg of a horse caused by over-reaching, or by a blow from another horse's foot.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §113 Atteynt is a sorance, that commeth of an ouer-rechynge, yf it be before; and if it be behynde, it is of the tredynge of an other horse. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 313 Of an upper Attaint or over-reach upon the back sinew of the shanke. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The farriers distinguish upper attaints given by the toe of the hindfoot upon the sinew of the fore-leg, and nether attaints, or over-reachers, on the pastern-joint. |
4. Old Law. The conviction of a jury for giving a false verdict; a legal process instituted for reversing a false verdict and convicting the jurors.
This was done by a grand jury of twenty-four; ‘for the law wills not that the oath of one jury of twelve men should be attainted or set aside by an equal number, or by less indeed than double the number.’ (Bracton, in Tomlins.)
| [1292 Britton iv. xi. §1 (title) Ou gist Atteynte. 1865 Nichols transl., In what cases an attaint lies.] 1528 Perkins Prof. Bk. v. §383 (1642) 166 The heire hath defeated the verdict by attaint. 1577 Harrison England i. ii. iv. (1877) 101 Now and then the honest yeomen..shall be sued of an atteinct and bound to appeare at the Starre chamber. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 351 Another species of extraordinary juries, is the jury to try an attaint; which is a process commenced against a former jury, for bringing in a false verdict. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. viii. 31 The ancient remedy, by means of attaint, which renders a jury responsible for an unjust verdict, was almost gone into disuse. |
5. = attainder.
| 1603 Drayton Heroic. Ep. vi. 140 Those great Lords, now after their Attaints, Canonized amongst the English Saints. 1692 Beverley Concil. Disc. 7 The Court of Honour, where Attaints are purg'd off, and Blood, as they speak, restor'd. |
6. fig. Imputation or touch of dishonour, stain upon honour, lustre, purity, or freshness.
| 1592 Daniel Compl. Rosamond (1717) 38 Her Legend justifies her foul Attaint. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxxxii, Thou..maiest without attaint o're-looke The dedicated words. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circ. i. (1874) 197 Among the faults..Are two so grave that some attaint is brought Unto the greatness of his soul thereby. a 1850 Jeffrey in Ld. Cockburn Lett. II. ccx, I have faith in races, and feel that your blood will resist such attaints. |
† 7. ? Exhaustion, weariness, fatigue. Cf. attaint a. 3. Obs.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. Cho. 39 Nor doth he dedicate one iot of Colour Vnto the wearie and all-watched Night; But freshly lookes, and ouerbeares Attaint, With cheareful semblance. [Perh. here = stain upon freshness.] |