Forms: 4–6 taynte, 5 teynt, 5–7 taynt, 6 tainte, teinte, 7 tainct, 6– taint. [Here, as in the vb., two words of distinct origin, being identical in form, appear to have run together in the formation of later senses. The original words are placed under A and B, the blended senses under C.]
A. [Aphetic form of ATTAINT sb.]
† 1. A ‘hit’ in tilting; = ATTAINT sb. 1. Also fig.
c. 1400. Melayne, 1387. Bot me sall neuer be-tyde that taynte.
1494. in Letters of Rich. III. & Hen. VII. (Rolls), I. 397. Sir Edward A Borough … brake a spere well brokyn, the ijds better, with a teynt.
1543. Grafton, Contn. Harding, 596. He … gaue so many teintes yt euery man maruayled at his wonderfull feetes. Ibid., 599. At euery coursse he brake a speare or gaue a taynt.
1551–2. Edw. VI., Lit. Rem. (Roxb.), II. 389. Ther was a match … at tilt. Theis [the earl of Warwick, etc.] wane by 4 taintes.
1602. Segar, Hon. Mil. & Civ., III. xxxviii. 168. At the last meeting the French Taint was so strong, as the Englishman was wel-neere borne downe: and so they departed.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, III. 374. This taint he follow’d with his sword, drawn from a silver sheath.
† b. transf. A knock, a blow. Obs.
c. 1410. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), vii. If grehoundes gyf hym [the fox] mony tayntes and ouersette hym.
2. A disease in horses; = ATTAINT sb. 3.
1565. Blundevil, Horsemanship, IV. cxix. (1580), 55. Of a nether taint…. This is a little bladder full of iellie, much like vnto a wind-gall, not apparant to the eie, but to the feeling, growing in the midst of the pasterne, somewhat aboue the frush. It commeth by a straine, or else by some wrench, or by an ouerreach.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 672. His observations are particularly applicable to the curl, still they will apply equally well to the taint.
† 3. A conviction; spec. the conviction of a jury for having given a false verdict; = ATTAINT sb. 4.
1530. Palsgr., 279/1. Taynte, condamne [sb.].
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Taint … signifieth either substantiuely a conviction, or adiectiuely a person convicted of felonie or Treason &c. See Attaint.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., I. 13. Gif the assisors sall happin to be convict as mensworne in the court, be ane Taynt; that is, be probation of twentie foure loyall men.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), A Taint, a Conviction.
† B. [a. OF. teint, taint (12th c.):—L. tinctu-s (u-stem), and teinte (13th c.):—late and med.L. tincta, sb. fem. from tinct-us, pa. pple. of tingĕre to TINGE. Cf. the later doublets TINCT and TINT.] Color, hue, tint; tinge; dye. Obs.
1567. Drant, Horace, Epist., II. ii. H vj. Pearles, stones, iewels, pictures, with costelie kynde of tainte.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. i. (Arb.), 150. The crimson tainte, which should be laid vpon a Ladies lips, or right in the center of her cheekes.
a. 1592. Greene, Hexametra Alexis in laudem Rosamundæ, 6. Face rose-hued, cherry-red, with a silver taint like a lily.
c. 1593. Earl. Oxford, Sheph. Commend. Nimph, vii. This pleasant Lilly white, This taint of roseate red.
C. [Senses app. combining A and B.]
1. A stain, a blemish; a sullying spot; a touch, trace, shade, tinge, or tincture of some bad or undesirable quality; a touch of discredit, dishonor, or disgrace; a slur.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 390. I hate ingratitude more in a man, Then … any taint of vice.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Underwoods, xiii. A hallowed temple, free from taint Of ethnicisme.
1643. Chas. I., Proclam., Wks. 1662, II. 350. Free from the foul Taint of High Treason.
1682. Otway, Venice Pres., II. i. They leave a Taint, a Sully where they’ve past.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), A Taint … a Blur, Spot, or Blemish in one’s Reputation.
1742. Fielding, Jos. Andrews, II. iv. His temper was … without the least taint of moroseness.
1781. Cowper, Expost., 150. Free from every taint but that of vice.
1819. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, xxv. She knelt so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), II. xx. 211. A slight taint of pedantry.
1851. Brimley, Ess., Wordsworth, 103. There is no taint upon his robe.
1883. Sir J. Bacon, in Law Rep., 25 Ch. Div. 316. For good consideration and without taint of suspicion.
1920. A. Symons, Cesare Borgia, Sc. xi.
| 2nd Assassin. The man we have slain was innocent of blood: | |
| We keep the taint of it on ours. |
† b. A flaw or blemish in the feathers of hawks from improper feeding; = HUNGER-TRACE(S. Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Bij b. The tayntys that be vppon her tayll and her Wengys wiche tayntys com for lacke of fedyng when thay be Eyes. Ibid. A Taynt is a thyng that gooth ouerwarte the federis of the wynges, and of the tayll lyke as and it were eetyn with wormys.
2. A contaminating, corrupting, or depraving influence, physical or moral; a cause or condition of corruption or decay; an infection.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iii. 28. What followes then?… a generall Taint of the whole State.
1692. Locke, Educ., § 68. Keep him from the Taint of your Servants, and meaner People.
1735. Bolingbroke, On Parties, ii. 15. That epidemical Taint, with which King James infected the Minds of Men, continued upon us.
1828. Macaulay, Ess., Hallam (1887), 93. A deep and general taint infected the morals of the most influential classes.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, vi. 93. The health … was affected by the taint the marsh gave to the atmosphere.
b. A trace or tinge of disease in a latent state.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 16. It is a great signe of a taint, and next yeeres death.
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horsem., 347. If you doe perceive a taint in his winde.
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII. 414. How often does latent venereal taint produce glandular obstructions?
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 410. Diseases of the bones, dependent upon or resulting from a scrofulous taint.
1879. Spon’s Encycl. Manuf., I. 9. It is also essential that there shall be no dry rot or ‘taint’ present [in the wood].
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 116. Both diseases own a common origin, namely hereditary nervous taint.
† 3. (Also tant.) Short for TAINT-WORM; also, a small red spider (see quot. 1646). Obs.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 134 b. If he swell of the taint, or stingworme.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xxvii. 176. There is found in the Summer a kind of spider called a Tainct of a red colour…. This by Countrey people is accounted a deadly poison unto Cowes and Horses; who, if they suddenly die, and swell thereon, ascribe their death hereto, and will commonly say, they have licked a Tainct.
1656. in Blount, Glossogr.
a. 1705. Ray, Hist. Insects (1710), 41. Araneus exiguus coccineus, vulgo Anglicè a Tant or Taint.
4. Comb. as taint-free a., free from taint.
1663. Flagellum, or O. Cromwell, 205. Nor were most of his Relations taint free of those principles.
