To disgrace or tarnish someone's reputation, or in archaic legal usage, to strip someone of rank and rights as punishment.
From Old French 'atainte' and Latin 'attingere' (to touch, taint), literally 'to touch with corruption.' Medieval legal term for a form of punishment that destroyed a person's status.
Thomas More, the famous Renaissance scholar, was 'attainted' by Henry VIII after refusing to accept the king as head of the church—and though later executed, attainder meant his family lost their titles and lands immediately, a form of punishment that outlived actual death.
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