v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Attainted; p. pr. & vb. n. Attainting. ] [ OE. atteynten to convict, fr. atteynt, OF. ateint, p. p. of ateindre, ataindre. The meanings 3, 4, 5, and 6 were influenced by a supposed connection with taint. See Attain, Attainder. ] 1. To attain; to get act; to hit. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Old Law) To find guilty; to convict; -- said esp. of a jury on trial for giving a false verdict. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon sufficient proof attainted of some open act by men of his own condition. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) To subject (a person) to the legal condition formerly resulting from a sentence of death or outlawry, pronounced in respect of treason or felony; to affect by attainder. [ 1913 Webster ]

No person shall be attainted of high treason where corruption of blood is incurred, but by the oath of two witnesses. Stat. 7 & 8 Wm. III. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To accuse; to charge with a crime or a dishonorable act. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To affect or infect, as with physical or mental disease or with moral contagion; to taint or corrupt. [ 1913 Webster ]

My tender youth was never yet attaint
With any passion of inflaming love. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To stain; to obscure; to sully; to disgrace; to cloud with infamy. [ 1913 Webster ]

For so exceeding shone his glistring ray,
That Ph&unr_;bus' golden face it did attaint. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest she with blame her honor should attaint. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Attainted; corrupted. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. attainte. See Attaint, v. ] 1. A touch or hit. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Far.) A blow or wound on the leg of a horse, made by overreaching. White. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) A writ which lies after judgment, to inquire whether a jury has given a false verdict in any court of record; also, the convicting of the jury so tried. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A stain or taint; disgrace. See Taint. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An infecting influence. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Attainder; attainture; conviction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Attainder; disgrace. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Certainties [ OF. certaineté. ] 1. The quality, state, or condition, of being certain. [ 1913 Webster ]

The certainty of punishment is the truest security against crimes. Fisher Ames. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A fact or truth unquestionable established. [ 1913 Webster ]

Certainties are uninteresting and sating. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) Clearness; freedom from ambiguity; lucidity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of a certainty, certainly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Dipped in the gall of the fabulous hydra; poisonous; deadly. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Uncertainty. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To injure, as a lance, without breaking it; also, to break, as a lance, but usually in an unknightly or unscientific manner. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Do not fear; I have
A staff to taint, and bravely. Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hit or touch lightly, in tilting. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They tainted each other on the helms and passed by. Ld. Berners. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. atteinte a blow, bit, stroke. See Attaint. ] 1. A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This taint he followed with his sword drawn from a silver sheath. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An injury done to a lance in an encounter, without its being broken; also, a breaking of a lance in an encounter in a dishonorable or unscientific manner. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Tainted p. pr. & vb. n. Tainting. ] To thrust ineffectually with a lance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ F. teint, p. p. of teindre to dye, tinge, fr. L. tingere, tinctum. See Tinge, and cf. Tint. ] 1. To imbue or impregnate with something extraneous, especially with something odious, noxious, or poisonous; hence, to corrupt; to infect; to poison; as, putrid substance taint the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: To stain; to sully; to tarnish. [ 1913 Webster ]

His unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To contaminate; defile; pollute; corrupt; infect; disease; vitiate; poison. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be infected or corrupted; to be touched with something corrupting. [ 1913 Webster ]

I can not taint with fear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be affected with incipient putrefaction; as, meat soon taints in warm weather. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Tincture; hue; color; tinge. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Infection; corruption; deprivation. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had inherited from his parents a scrofulous taint, which it was beyond the power of medicine to remove. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A blemish on reputation; stain; spot; disgrace. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. Aphetic form of Attaint. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Free from taint or infection; pure. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a taintless manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. teinture. See Taint to stain, and cf. Tincture. ] Taint; tinge; difilement; stain; spot. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A destructive parasitic worm or insect larva. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Harassed; fatigued with travel. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Uncertainties [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The quality or state of being uncertain. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is uncertain; something unknown. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our shepherd's case is every man's case that quits a moral certainty for an uncertainty. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]