Obs. Forms: 4–5 ateynt, ataynt, atteynt, -aynt, (4 atenkt) 5 atteint, 6–8 attaint. [a. OF. ateint, ataint, mod. atteint, pa. pple. of a(t)teindre to ATTAIN, formed like teindre, teint, joindre, joint, etc., and not from L. attactus. (Cf. peindre, peint, for L. pictus.) Hence, erroneously latinized in med.L. as attinctus, and referred, in England at least, to L. tinctus ‘dyed, stained,’ an etymological fancy which warped the meaning of the word and its derivatives.]
1. Convicted, attainted. Used orig. as pa. pple. of ATTAIN, subseq. of ATTAINT v.; also as adj.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 12628. Þat we be neuer more ateynt For fals shryvyng.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 340. Atteint they were by the lawe And demed for to honge and drawe.
c. 1460. Launfal, 761. Fyle ataynte traytour!
1642. Declar., Votes, etc. conc. Magaz. at Hull, 14. That … he, or they, be in no wise convict or attaint of high Treason.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., IV. 373. He is then called attaint, attinctus, stained, or blackened. He is no longer of any credit or reputation.
2. Affected with sickness, passion, etc.; infected.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3065. Wyþ pryde are swyche men ateynte.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 103. That he ne schel soffry ther hys [wo], As he [is] here atenkt.
c. 1500. Blowbol’s Test., in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 1. I trow he was infecte certeyn With the faitour … Or with a sekenesse called a knave ateynt.
3. Overcome with heat, weariness or fatigue; overpowered, exhausted. [In this sense perhaps partly due to F. éteint.]
c. 1325. Cœur de L., 6131. In the hete they wer almost ateynt.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 333. If he beo þer in batail atteynt; þou lest þy los þerfore. Ibid., 3612. Ys sted wax al ateynte.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. ix. With weriness atteynt.
1470–85. (1634), Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 276. And suffered him till he was nigh attaint, and then he ran upon him.
