attainder

English

Alternative forms

• attaindre (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman ataindre ("to reach"), with infinitives used as nouns being frequent in Law French.

Pronunciation

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Noun

attainder (plural attainders)

1. (law, rare) The state a prisoner enters once a death sentence (usually for treason) had been issued; the state of being stripped of all civil rights.
   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 139:

     Grandpa Piper led thereto by the arm […] and himself thrust into a chair, to support the character of dummy to Henry's prearranged attainder.

2. (archaic) A stain; a state of dishonour or condemnation.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], line 32:

     He lived from all attainder of suspects.

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 230:

     Some of the horses were registered under phony papers, their sires having been ruled off the track as doped or doctored. The hereditary attainder rule was very strict.

Related terms

• attaint
• bill of attainder

Translations

the state of a prisoner after a death sentence

• Spanish: muerte civil, deshonra (obsolete)

Anagrams

• antitrade, attaindre