TAINT


Meaning of TAINT in English

I. ˈtānt verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English taynten, from Anglo-French teinter, from Middle French teint, past participle of teindre to color, dye, from Latin tingere — more at tinge

transitive verb

1. obsolete : to touch with color : tinge , tint

2. obsolete : to apply balm or ointment to (a wound or sore spot) : anoint

3.

[influenced in meaning by obsolete taint to attaint, from Middle English taynten, from Middle French ataint, past participle of ataindre to accuse, convict, attain — more at attain ]

a. : to touch or affect slightly with something bad or undesirable

to aid openly would be to … taint his memory — S.H.Adams

directed toward the purge from the public service rolls of those tainted with fascism — Taylor Cole

b. : to affect with putrefaction : make noxious or poisonous : rot

the meat was tainted

c. : to contaminate morally : corrupt , defile , deprave , stain

all the lighter kinds of literature were deeply tainted by the prevailing licentiousness — T.B.Macaulay

intransitive verb

[influenced in meaning by obsolete taint to attaint]

1. obsolete : to become weak : lose courage

I cannot taint with fear — Shakespeare

2. archaic : to become affected with putrefaction or corruption : rot

Synonyms: see contaminate

II. noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle French teint, from past participle of teindre

1. obsolete : color , hue , tinge

2.

[influenced in meaning by taint (III) ]

a. : a spot or stain of something bad (as of dishonor or disgrace) : blemish

some ineradicable taint of impropriety attached in their minds to any association with the stage — Mary Austin

the river that I know washes from all taint of sin — Rudyard Kipling

b. : a germ, source, or cause of corruption : a contaminating influence : a rotting or depraving force

remembered his bouts with the bottle and were afraid that the taint had been passed on to me — Hamilton Basso

III. noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle French atainte — more at attaint

: attaint 1

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.