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Acquire vs Attaint - What's the difference?

acquire | attaint |

As verbs the difference between acquire and attaint

is that acquire is to get while attaint is (archaic) to subject to attainder; to condemn (someone) to death and extinction of all civil rights.

As an adjective attaint is

(obsolete) convicted, attainted.

As a noun attaint is

(archaic) a blow or strike, especially in jousting.

acquire

English

Verb

(acquir)
  • To get.
  • To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own, as, to acquire a title, riches, knowledge, skill, good or bad habits.
  • * (Isaac Barrow) (1630-1677)
  • No virtue is acquired in an instant, but step by step.
  • * (William Blackstone) (1723-1780)
  • Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), chapter=3/19/2, title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
  • , passage=Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house?; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something?; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.}}

    Synonyms

    * attain, earn, gain, obtain, procure, secure, win

    Derived terms

    * acquired taste

    attaint

    English

    Alternative forms

    * atteint

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Convicted, attainted.
  • (obsolete) Attainted; corrupted.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To subject to attainder; to condemn (someone) to death and extinction of all civil rights.
  • (archaic) To subject to calumny; to accuse of a crime or dishonour.
  • To taint; to corrupt, sully.
  • * 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , IV.i:
  • Amoret right fearefull was and faint, / Lest she with blame her honor should attaint [...].

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A blow or strike, especially in jousting.
  • * 2009 , Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 484:
  • At the moment of impact, the king's eyes are open, his body braced for the atteint ; he takes the blow perfectly, its force absorbed by a body securely armoured, moving in the right direction, maving at the right speed.
  • A wound on the leg of a horse caused by a blow
  • (obsolete, legal) The giving of a false verdict by a jury; the conviction of such a jury, and the reversal of the verdict