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Literary notes about attaint (AI summary)

The term "attaint" in literature frequently carries a dual weight, both as a technical legal term and a poetic expression of defilement or disgrace. In many legal and political contexts, it is employed to denote the act of legally condemning or discrediting someone—effectively staining their honor and nullifying their rights or titles (see [1], [2], [3]). Meanwhile, its use in poetic language often evokes a sense of moral or reputational corruption, suggesting that even the brightest reputation can be sullied by a single wrongful act (as in [4] and [5]). Beyond these domains, "attaint" sometimes appears in more literal descriptions, marking physical hits or blows in battle, thereby exemplifying its breadth of meaning across different textual genres (cf. [6] and [7]).
  1. The blood of one convicted of high treason is "attaint," and his deprivations extend to his descendants, unless Parliament remove the attainder.
    — from The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc by Thomas De Quincey
  2. Now Parliament was called on by the king himself to attaint his ministers and his Queens.
    — from History of the English People, Volume IV by John Richard Green
  3. Attaint´ , a writ at common law against a jury for a false verdict, finally abolished in England in 1825.
    — from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Atrebates to Bedlis Vol. 1 Part 3 by Various
  4. Beaming in beauty, supreme in virtue, the resplendent aegis of truth shields her from attaint!
    — from Anna St. Ives by Thomas Holcroft
  5. Something that's noble, to preserve my memory From the disgrace that's ready to attaint it.
    — from Venice Preserved: A Tragedy in Five Acts by Thomas Otway
  6. [75] Attaint was the technical term for a hit.
    — from The Reformation and the Renaissance (1485-1547)Second Edition
  7. atteinte , touch— "I will not poison thee with my attaint ."
    — from The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

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