TAINT • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Taint

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noun

Taint n.

A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect. (Obs.) "This taint he followed with his sword drawn from a silver sheath."

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.)

Taint n.

Tincture; hue; color; tinge. (Obs.)

Infection; corruption; deprivation. "He had inherited from his parents a scrofulous taint, which it was beyond the power of medicine to remove."

A blemish on reputation; stain; spot; disgrace.

verb

Taint v. t.

To injure, as a lance, without breaking it; also, to break, as a lance, but usually in an unknightly or unscientific manner. (Obs.) "Do not fear; I have A staff to taint, and bravely."

To hit or touch lightly, in tilting. (Obs.) "They tainted each other on the helms and passed by."

Taint v. t.

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.

Fig.: To stain; to sully; to tarnish. "His unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love."

Synonyms: To contaminate; defile; pollute; corrupt; infect; disease; vitiate; poison.

Taint v. t. Aphetic form of Attaint.

Taint v. i. (past & past part. tainted; pres. part. tainting) To thrust ineffectually with a lance. (Obs.)

Taint v. i.

To be infected or corrupted; to be touched with something corrupting. "I can not taint with fear."

To be affected with incipient putrefaction; as, meat soon taints in warm weather.

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Etymology of 'Taint'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Taint" Quotes from Famous Books

... confounded pain meant between my shoulders! Grandfather Hildreth kept himself alive with nostrums until he was seventy, but he was an invalid all his life. He ought to be cursed for his contemptible selfishness in bringing so much suffering upon the race! There's none of the taint about Evadne, bless her! Russe told me the Hospital examiners said they had never passed such a perfect ...

— A Beautiful Possibility • Edith Ferguson Black

... night might have disclosed still darker pictures in the hidden recesses of our village, for, oh, there are dens of foul pollution, that send their infectious taint over the pure air of our community, calling the blush of shame to the cheek of conscious virtue, and creating an ardent desire in the breast of the philanthropist, to go forth and labor in the vineyard of ...

— Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland • Abigail Stanley Hanna

... much of that. But I have deepened the taint, in striving to avoid the opposite corruption of revenge. I have the taint myself. The stain of slavery exists in the First of the Blacks himself. Let all others, then, be forgiven. They may thus be recovered. I gave them the lesson of loving ...

— The Hour and the Man - An Historical Romance • Harriet Martineau

... in which Douglas was now working. Every one knew what the law of God was. Every one appealed to the Bible as God's word. For much of this Douglas had perfect contempt; and he was quick to sense a taint of it in Seward, or any one whom it had infected. Such men as Stephens of the South were insisting now that the real intellect-of the North cared nothing about slavery, and only used it to masquerade their ...

— Children of the Market Place • Edgar Lee Masters

... distinction which I have pressed with regard to English universities, in the existence of a large volunteer order of students seeking only the liberalization, and not the profits, of academic life. In arguing upon their case, it is not the fair logic to say: These pursuits taint the decorum of the studious character; it is not fair to calculate how much is lost to the man of letters by such addiction to fox-hunting; but, on the contrary, what is gained to the fox-hunter, who would, at any rate, be such, by so considerable a homage paid ...

— Memorials and Other Papers • Thomas de Quincey

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