Taint

9 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

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

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Taint \Taint\, v. t.
     Aphetic form of {Attaint}.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Taint \Taint\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Tainted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Tainting}.]
     To thrust ineffectually with a lance. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Taint \Taint\, 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.
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     2. To hit or touch lightly, in tilting. [Obs.]
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              They tainted each other on the helms and passed by.
                                                    --Ld. Berners.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Taint \Taint\, 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.
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     2. Fig.: To stain; to sully; to tarnish.
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              His unkindness may defeat my life,
              But never taint my love.              --Shak.
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     Syn: To contaminate; defile; pollute; corrupt; infect;
          disease; vitiate; poison.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Taint \Taint\, 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.
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     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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Taint \Taint\, v. i.
     1. To be infected or corrupted; to be touched with something
        corrupting.
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              I can not taint with fear.            --Shak.
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     2. To be affected with incipient putrefaction; as, meat soon
        taints in warm weather.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  taint
       n : the state of being contaminated [syn: {contamination}]
       v 1: place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's
            reputation" [syn: {defile}, {sully}, {corrupt}, {cloud}]
       2: contaminate with a disease or microorganism [syn: {infect}]
          [ant: {disinfect}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  302 Moby Thesaurus words for "taint":
     abuse, adulterate, aerial infection, afflict, aggrieve,
     airborne infection, alloy, aroma, aspersion, attaint, attribute,
     badge, badge of infamy, bar sinister, baton, bedaub, befoul,
     benasty, bend sinister, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, bespatter,
     bestain, bewitch, black eye, black mark, blacken, blemish, blight,
     bloodstain, blot, blotch, blow upon, blur, brand, broad arrow, bug,
     cachet, canker, carrier, cast, catch, censure, champain, character,
     characteristic, cheapen, cloud, coarsen, communicability, condemn,
     configuration, confound, contagion, contagiousness, contaminate,
     contamination, corrupt, crack, crucify, cryptogenic infection,
     curse, cut, dab, damage, darken, dash, daub, debase, debauch,
     defame, defect, defection, deficiency, defile, deflower,
     degenerate, degrade, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil,
     destroy, devalue, differentia, differential, direct infection,
     dirty, disadvantage, disapprove, discolor, discredit, disease,
     dishonor, disparage, disparagement, disserve, distinctive feature,
     distort, distress, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong,
     do wrong by, doom, drawback, droplet infection, dust infection,
     earmark, envenom, epidemiology, expose, expose to infamy, eyesore,
     failing, failure, fault, faute, feature, figure, flavor, flaw,
     fleck, flick, flyspeck, foible, foul, frailty, get into trouble,
     gibbet, gust, hallmark, hand infection, hang in effigy, harass,
     harm, hex, hint, hole, hurt, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, impair,
     imperfection, impress, impression, imputation, inadequacy, index,
     indirect infection, individualism, infect, infection,
     infectiousness, infirmity, infusion, injure, inkling, intimation,
     jinx, keynote, kink, lineaments, little problem, macula,
     maculation, macule, maltreat, mannerism, mark, mark of Cain,
     marking, menace, mess, mess up, mistreat, misuse, mold, molest,
     muddy, nasty, nature, odor, onus, outrage, particularity, patch,
     peculiarity, persecute, pervert, phytogenic infection, pillory,
     pillorying, play havoc with, play hob with, point champain, poison,
     pollute, prejudice, primary infection, problem, property,
     prostitute, pyogenic infection, quality, quirk, ravage, ravish,
     reflection, reprimand, reproach, rift, ruin, sauce, savage, savor,
     scar, scathe, scorch, seal, sear, seasoning, secondary infection,
     shade, shape, shortcoming, singe, singularity, slubber, slur,
     smack, smear, smirch, smoke, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, snag,
     soil, something missing, soupcon, spatter, specialty, speck,
     speckle, spice, splash, splatter, splotch, spoil, spot, sprinkling,
     stain, stamp, stigma, stigmatism, stigmatization, stigmatize,
     subclinical infection, suggestion, sully, suspicion, tang, tar,
     tarnish, taste, tempering, thought, threaten, tinct, tincture,
     tinge, tint, token, torment, torture, touch, trace, trait, trick,
     twist, ulcerate, vector, vestige, vilify, violate, virus, vitiate,
     vulgarize, vulnerable place, warp, waterborne infection, weak link,
     weak point, weakness, wound, wreak havoc on, wrong,
     zoogenic infection