Both Uses of
taint
in
The War of the Worlds
- On the twelfth day my throat was so painful that, taking the chance of alarming the Martians, I attacked the creaking rain-water pump that stood by the sink, and got a couple of glassfuls of blackened and tainted rain water.†
Chpt 2.5 *tainted = spoiled or contaminated
- It's a sort of disloyalty, after all, to live and taint the race.†
Chpt 2.7taint = 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.