attaint, attaynte, atteynt, a teynt, asteynte

t. [Fr. atteint, s.; from O. Fr. attaint, attainct, pa. par. of at teindre: Mod. Fr. atteindre.] [ATTAINDER.] A. Ordinary Language: 1. To disgrace, specially in the way described under B., 1. [ATTAINDER.] "Was not thy father, Richard Earl of Cambridge, For treason executed in our late king's days; And by his treason stand'st not thou attainted , Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry!" Shakesp.: 1 Hen . VI ., IL 4 "If we try the Act which attainted Fenwick... Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. xxiii. It is often followed by of standing before the crime. "They had conspired against the English government, and had been attainted of treason."- Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. i. 2. Fig .: To taint, to stain, to dim, obscure, to blacken, to darken, as an attainder was supposed to stain or blacken the person against whom it was directed. [ATTAINDER.] Used (a) Of a person's reputation. "How would the sons of Troy, in arms renown'd, And Troy's proud dames, whose garments sweep tho ground, Attaint the lustre of my former name, Should Hector basely quit the field of fame?" Pope : Homer's Iliad , bk. vi., 569-6 "For he attaints that rival's fame With treason's charge Scott: Marmion, ii. 28. (b) of anything lustrous in nature capable of being dimmed; or anything, whether lustrous or not, capable of being tainted or stained. "His warlike shield all closely covered was For so exceeding shone his glistering ray That Phœbus' golden face it did attaint . As when a cloud his beames did overlay." Spenser: F. Q., L. vii. 33, 34. 3. To corrupt, as the blood of a person under attainder was supposed to be legally "corrupted." [ATTAINT, particip . adj . (2).] B. Old Law: * 1. To declare a jury infamous, and inflict on them a punishment severe even to extravagance, on account of their having given a false verdict. [See ATTAINT, S., B. 1.] ( Black stone : Comment., bk. iii., chaps. 23-25.) 2. To place one under an attainder, which is done upon sentence of outlawry, or on that of death for treason or felony. (Black stone: Comm., bk. iv. 29.) [ATTAINDER.] Formerly a man might be attainted in two ways: (1) By appearance, by which was meant that he really presented himself in the court, and was subject to attainder, having confe ed his crime, been vanquished in battle, or adjudged guilty by a verdict. Or (2) by proce , when having fled and failed to answer, after being five times called publicly in the county, he was at last outlawed for non-appearance.