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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

... an hour Harrigan sweated and groaned uselessly over his labor. Once he smelled a taint of smoke and shouted his triumph, but the peg slipped and the work was undone. He started all over again after a short rest and the peg creaked against the slab of wood with the speed of its rotation—a ...

— Harrigan • Max Brand

... inheritance—the risk of the taint—of transmitting it. Her father's erratic brilliancy became more than eccentricity before I knew him. I would have told you that had I dreamed that you ever could have thought of marrying Alixe Varian. But how could I know you would meet her out there in the Orient! It was—your cable to ...

— The Younger Set • Robert W. Chambers

... been a revolution,[55] properly so called; there never has even been one grand national rebellion. The people, tho often lawless, are never free. Among them we find still preserved that peculiar taint of barbarism which makes men prefer occasional disobedience to systematic liberty. Certain feelings there are of our common nature, which even their slavish loyalty can not eradicate, and which, from time to time, urge them to resist ...

— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VI (of X)--Great Britain and Ireland IV • Various

... mastery; To miss the march of this retreating world Into vain citadels that are not walled. Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels I would go up and wash them from sweet wells, Even with truths that lie too deep for taint. I would have poured my spirit without stint But not through wounds; not on the cess of war. Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were. I am the enemy you killed, my friend. I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned Yesterday ...

— Poems • Wilfred Owen

... the taint out of a thief on a cross. And I was never so much of a man as you now make me, and, I gad, I'm going to be worthy of your friendship. Let me remind you of something: That old uncle of mine in Kentucky will leave me his money. ...

— An Arkansas Planter • Opie Percival Read

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