attaint sb. (1 the orig. legal sense was ‘conviction of a jury for giving a false verdict’; 2 cf. ‘taint’)
1.
impeachment Lr. V. iii. 83 (Ff
“arrest”).
2.
infecting influence
H5 IV. Chor. 39*,
Ven. 741
“sickness, whose attaint
Disorder breeds.”
3.
stain on honour,
purity, or freshness, disgrace Err. III. ii. 16, Troil. I. ii. 26, Sonn. lxxxii. 2,
Lucr. 825
“clear from this attaint
of mine.”
