All 4 Uses of
taint
in
Henry VIII
- We come not by the way of accusation To taint that honour every good tongue blesses, Nor to betray you any way to sorrow; You have too much, good lady; but to know How you stand minded in the weighty difference Between the King and you; and to deliver, Like free and honest men, our just opinions And comforts to your cause.†
Scene 3.1taint = to spoil something so it is not desirable
- Many more there are; Which, since they are of you, and odious, I will not taint my mouth with.†
Scene 3.2
- Well, the voice goes, madam: For after the stout Earl Northumberland Arrested him at York, and brought him forward, As a man sorely tainted, to his answer, He fell sick suddenly, and grew so ill He could not sit his mule.†
Scene 4.2tainted = spoiled or contaminated
- Commotions, uproars, with a general taint Of the whole state; as, of late days, our neighbours, The upper Germany, can dearly witness, Yet freshly pitied in our memories.†
Scene 5.3 *taint = to spoil something so it is not desirable
Definitions:
-
(1)
(taint) to spoil something so it is not desirable -- as when bacteria contaminates a food; or as when a rumor makes people distrust a person
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, taint is used in a non-negative way to refer to a trace of something.