attain, attaine, atteine, atteyne

i. & t. [Apparently from Lat. at tinco (1) to hold on, to hold fast, delay, (2) to stretch to, to reach to; from ad = to, and teneo to hold fast, to hold, to reach, attain. The corresponding word in Mod. & Ο. Fr. is atteindre = to attain, to reach, overtake, strike, catch, equal, come to Port. attingir: these are not from Lat. attineo, but from at tin go (1) to touch, (2) to a ault, to reach, to arrive at: ad to, and tango to touch, to reach, to strike. The Eng. attain agrees better in signification with the Fr. atteindre and Lat. attingo than with Lat. attineo, though its form is modified from the last-mentioned verb.] A. Intransitive : 1. To reach, grasp, or arrive at some object of pursuit or of desire, physical, mental, moral, or spiritual. the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, Acts xxvii, 12. have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."- Gen . xlvii. 9. a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels." - Prov . 1. 5. how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?" Hos . viii. 5. "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."- Phil . iii. 11 "But to her purpos schul they never atteyne." Chaucer: C. T., 13,327. 2. It is used also of material objects in proce of reaching a certain state. "Milk will soon separate itself into cream, and a more serous liquor, which, after twelve days, attains to the highest degree of acidity."-Arbuthnot: Alim. It is rarely followed by an infinitive. In the subjoined example "attain to know" is = attain to the knowledge of. and wherein lies The offence that man should thus attain to know?" Milton: P. L. , bk. ix. B. Transitive (formed from the intransitive verb by the omi ion of the preposition to ): I. Of persons: 1. Lit. To reach a place at which one seeks to arrive, or a person with or at whom one wishes to be. "Canaan he now attains ; I see his tents Pitch'd above Sichem, and the neighbouring plain Of Moreh." Milton : P. L., bk. xii. "The earl hoping to have overtaken the Scottish king, and to have given him battle; but not attaining him in time, zet down before the castle of Aton." Bacon . 2. Fig .: To reach or grasp any object, physical, mental, moral, or spiritual, at which one is aiming. To say that a person attains a thing is not the same as to say that he obtains it. Attain implies that one is making active efforts, or at least indulging earnest wishes, to gain the object; whilst obtain can be used though he be pa ive, or even indifferent. "The eminence on which her spirit stood, Mine, was unable to attain ." Words worth: Excursion, bk. iii. IL. Of things: To reach. "Thinges that rigour never sholde atteine." Chaucer: C. Т., 11,087. "It is when the sun has attained its greatest height that such scenes should be viewed."-Darwin: Voyage round the World , chap. xxi.