Forms: 4–6 taynte, 5–6 taynt, 6–7 teint, 5– taint. Pa. pple. tainted; also formerly contr. taint (teint, etc.). [Here, as in the sb., there are two words of distinct origin, A and B, and a series of senses C, in which both appear more or less to blend.]
A. [Aphetic form of ATTAINT v.]
I. † 1. trans. To convict, prove guilty; = ATTAINT v. 3. Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxi. (Eugenia), 603. & þu with þis dede is wele taynt, Þat makis na ansuere to þis plant.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxvi. 122. All thefez and robbours þat or taynted þeroff.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8109. Now art þou trewly hor traitour, & tainted for fals.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxvi. 6. Traytoures tyte will I taynte.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 485. Apollo commanded them, that if they were all tainted with the said murder, they should all depart out of the citie Chios.
† 2. To prove (a charge); = ATTAINT v. 4. Obs.
1424. Sc. Acts Jas. I. (1814), II. 6/1. And quhar it beis tayntyt þt þai [rukis] bige and þe birdis be flowin and þe nestis be fundyn in þe treis at beltane, þe treis salbe forfaltit to þe king.
† 3. To subject to attainder; ATTAINT v. 6. Obs.
1732–8. Neal, Hist. Purit. (1822), I. 71. Elizabeth’s blood being tainted by act of parliament.
† 4. To accuse of crime or dishonor; ATTAINT v. 7. Obs.
a. 1619. Fletcher, Bonduca, I. i. ’Tis dishonour, And, follow’d, will be impudence, Bonduca, And grow to no belief, to taint these Romans.
II. † 5. To touch, strike, hit; esp. in tilting; = ATTAINT v. 1. Obs.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. clxviii. [clxiv.] 470. They ran togider, & tainted eche other on ye helmes, but their speres grated not.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 80. I doe liue, I assure thee, thogh dangers sundrye me taynted.
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., IV. 65 b. The Enemie … tainted fower of them with the Shot of one Harquebouze.
1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., I. iii. Tilting at a glove, Which, when he tainted with his slender rod, He [etc.].
† b. To break (a lance, staff) in tilting, etc. Obs.
1599. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum., II. i. He can sit a great horse; hee will taint a staffe well at tilt.
1624. Massinger, Parl. Love, IV. iii. Do not fear. I have A staff to taint, and bravely.
B. [a. AF. teinter (1409–10), f. teint, pa. pple. of OF. teindre to dye, color:—L. tingĕre to dye, TINGE; cf. ATTAINT, PAINT.]
† 1. trans. To color, dye, tinge. Obs.
[1409–10. Act 11 Hen. IV., c. 6. Qe certeins marchantz aliens … achatent … Mill draps de blanket fyne, ou pluis, & les font teintrere [v.r. teinter] de lour grayn demesne en Scarlet ou Sangwyne.]
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., I. vi., in Ashm. Theatr. Chem. Brit. (1652), 130. Able to tayne [? taynt] with colour whych wyll not vade.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, cxxxviii. 513. With the blode of ye dede sarasyns theyr swordys were all tayntyd red.
1589. Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 54. At this, the pore swaine tainted his cheeks with a vermillion die.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Butter, As to that [Butter] which they taint with Eel-pouts, besides that it deceives the Sight it is very often disagreeable to the Taste.
[a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 57. Bid faith and beauty die, and taint Her heart with fraud, her face with paint.]
† b. To dip, bathe. Obs. rare.
1594. Marlowe, Dido, I. i. And Phoebus, as in Stygian pools, refrains To taint his tresses in the Tyrrhene main.
† 2. To apply tincture, balm, or ointment to (a wound, etc.). Obs.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 65. If it be ripe it shalbe lawnced, if it be broken it shalbe tainted. Ibid. (1580), Euphues & Eng. (Arb.), 314. Whether dost thou wade Philautus in launcing the wound thou shouldest taint.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 274. If you slit his [a horse’s] fore-head, and loosening the skin from the bone, taint it with Turpentine and Sallet-oyl, it will undoubtedly help him.
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horsem., 95. Annoynt, wash, bathe and taint (if need be) the sorance.
C. [Senses in which A and B appear to blend.]
1. trans. To affect (esp. in a slight degree); to touch, tinge, imbue slightly (usually with some bad or undesirable quality).
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., V. iii. 183. A pure vnspotted heart, Neuer yet taint with loue, I send the King. Ibid. (1593), 3 Hen. VI., III. i. 40. Nero will be tainted with remorse.
1605. R. Carew, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 99. I am tainted with a sparcke of Envye.
1710. Berkeley, Princ. Hum. Knowl., Pref. Those who are tainted with Scepticism.
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng., lxix. (1806), V. 198. Nowise tainted with enthusiasm.
1850. Lyell, 2nd Visit U.S., II. 115. The French or Spanish creoles here would shrink … from intermarriage with one tainted, in the slightest degree, with African blood.
1884. Law Rep., 26 Ch. Div. 124. It does not follow that all the subsequent payments were tainted with the original infirmity.
† 2. To affect injuriously; to cause detriment to; to hurt, injure, impair. Obs.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 13. Sure the man is tainted in’s wits.
a. 1623. Beaumont, Ode Blessed Trin., ii. No cold shall thee benumme, Nor darknesse taint thy sight.
† b. To sully, stain, tarnish (a person’s honor).
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. i. 56. We come not by the way of Accusation, To taint that honour euery good Tongue blesses.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 183, ¶ 1. Any Occasion which he thinks may taint his own Honour. Ibid. (1722), Conscious Lovers, IV. i. The honour of a Gentleman is liable to be tainted by as small a Matter as the Credit of a Trader.
† 3. To affect with weakness; to cause to lose vigor or courage. Obs.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXVIII. xv. 679. [They] being thus tainted, as well in courage of heart, as in bodily strength, gave ground and reculed.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIII. 419. Fear taints me worthily, Though firm I stand, and show it not.
† b. intr. To lose vigor or courage; to become weak or faint; to wither, fade. Obs.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 3. Till Byrnane wood remoue to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with Feare.
1639. Horn & Rob., Gate Lang. Unl., xi. § 106. Failing of that moisture it flags, tainteth (withereth), and by and by drieth away.
4. trans. To infect with pernicious, noxious, corrupting or deleterious qualities; to touch with putrefaction; to corrupt, contaminate, deprave.
1573. Durham Deposit. (Surtees), 252. The said Bell is a great lyer, and taintyd of his tounge.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 75. Ladies lips … Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, Because their breath with Sweet meats tainted are.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., II. ii. Why tainst thou then the ayre with stench of flesh?
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 512. The truth With superstitions and traditions taint.
1770. Junius Lett., xxxviii. (1820), 186. The poison of their doctrines has tainted the natural benevolence of his disposition.
1861. Thackeray, Four Georges, ii. (1862), 116. One … who tainted a great society by a bad example.
b. intr. To become putrefied, corrupted, or rotten; to tarnish.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 145. Nay pursue him now, least the deuice take ayre, and taint.
1637. T. Morton, New Eng. Canaan (1883), 117. Fish and Flesh both will taint in those partes, notwithstanding the use of Salt.
1641. H. L’Estrange, God’s Sabbath, 26. The putrefaction which Manna contracted by procrastination on other dayes … was the greater miracle … because it tainted against nature.
1766. Museum Rust., III. 239. The natural humidity of the plant … which sometimes … is retained so long as to cause the heads to taint, and become rotten.
Hence Tainting vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1593. Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., Wks. (Grosart), II. 220. Yet tainting is no infamous surgerie for him that hath beene in so many hote skirmishes.
1598. Florio, Macca, a bruse, a spot, a tainting.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. iv. 148. If you buy Ladies flesh at a Million a Dram, you cannot preserue it from tainting.
1632. Star Chamb. Cases (Camden), 109. These words were very foule and dishonorable: it is a tainting of all honor.
1842. Manning, Serm., xi. (1848), I. 156. All the tainting, stupifying power of its original sin.
