attaint

English

Alternative forms

• atteint

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈteɪnt/
• Rhymes: -eɪnt

Adjective

attaint (comparative more attaint, superlative most attaint)

1. (obsolete) Convicted, attainted.
2. (obsolete) Attainted; corrupted.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:

     My tender youth was never yet attaint
     With any passion of inflaming love,

Verb

attaint (third-person singular simple present attaints, present participle attainting, simple past and past participle attainted)

1. (archaic) To subject to attainder; to condemn (someone) to death and extinction of all civil rights.
   • 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 216:

     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.
   • 1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury‎^[1], New York: Vintage, published 1956, Appendix, p. 405:

     CHARLES STUART. Attainted and proscribed by name and grade in his British regiment.

3. (now rare) To taint; to corrupt, sully.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Amoret right fearefull was and faint, / Lest she with blame her honor should attaint […] .

   • 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 34, in Mary Barton‎^[2]:

     Jem felt that his own character had been attainted; and that to many it might still appear suspicious.

Noun

attaint (plural attaints)

1. (archaic) A blow or strike, especially in jousting.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 484:

     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, law) The giving of a false verdict by a jury; the conviction of such a jury, and the reversal of the verdict.

Derived terms

• attaintment
• unattaint