Both Uses of
taint
in
Tartuffe
- You seem so discreet And so untainted, so very sweet, But the stillest waters are filled with scum, And your sly ways earn my revulsion.†
Chpt 1.1 *untainted = not spoiled or contaminatedstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in untainted means not and reverses the meaning of tainted. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- Do you dare, by your duplicity, To taint both his virtue and purity?†
Chpt 3.6taint = 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) Much more rarely, taint is used in a non-negative way to refer to a trace of something.