tail-valve 
into the condenser opens the valve; hut when a partial 
vacuum has been produced in the condenser the valve is 
closed by atmospheric pressure. 
2. Same as snifting-valre. 
tail-vise (tal'vis), n. A small hand-vise with 
a tail or handle to hold it by. 
tailward (tal'ward), adr. [< tain + -ward.] 
Toward the tail ; backward; caudad. 
tail-water (tal'wa"ter), n. The water flowing 
from the buckets of a water-wheel in motion, 
tailwort (tal'wert), n. A plant of the order 
Trinrideee. Lindley. 
tailzie, tailye (tal'ye), . A Scotch form of 
Institutes and substitutes are synonymous words, Mr. 
Butler and used indifferently as such in deeds of tauzie. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, v. 
tain (tan), n. [< ME. tein, teyne, a thin plate; 
perhaps < Icel. teinn, a twig, sprout, stripe, etc., 
= AS. tan, E. dial, tan, a twig (see tarft} ; but 
cf . OF. estain, F. etain = Pr. estanh = Sp. estaHo 
= It. stagno, < L. stagnum, stannum, an alloy 
of silver and lead, also LL. tin: see stannum.] 
A thin plate; a tagger; tin-foil for mirrors. 
Simmonds. 
Unto the goldsmith with thise teynes three 
They wente, and putte thise teynes in assay 
To fyr and hamer. 
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 326. 
tainctt, An obsolete spelling of taint 1 . 
tainha, n. See taigna. 
taint 1 (tant), n. [Early mod. E. also taiiict; < 
ME. * teint, < OF. teint, teinct, color, hue, dye, 
tincture, stain, < L. tinctus, a dyeing, dye: see 
tinct and tint, doublets of taint. Cf. taint 1 , a. 
and v.] l!. Color; hue; dye; tinge. 
Face rose-hued, cherry-red, with a silver taint like a lily. 
Greene, Hexametra Alexis in Laudem Rosamnndse. 
This pleasant lily white, 
This taint of roseate red. 
E. De Vere (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 58). 
2. A stain; a spot; a blemish; a touch of dis- 
credit or dishonor. 
His taints and honours 
Waged equal with him. Shak., A. and C., v. 1. 30. 
Here 'twill dash 
Your business has received a taint. 
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1. 
3. An infecting tinge ; a trace ; a touch. 
A hallowed temple, free from taint 
Of ethnicisme. B. Jonson, Underwoods, xiii. 
There was a taint of effeminacy in his [Gray's] nature. 
Lowell, New Princeton Rev., I. 162. 
4. A corrupting or contaminating influence, 
physical or moral; a cause or condition of 
depravation or decay ; an infection. 
A deep and general taint infected the morals of the 
most influential classes, and spread itself through every 
province of letters. Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist. 
The sad bequest of sire to son, 
The body's taint, the mind's defect. 
Whittier, The Shadow and the Light. 
It is also essential that there shall be no dry rot or 
taint present [in the wood]. Spans' Encyc. Manuf., I. 9. 
5!. A certain spider of small size and red color, 
reputed to be poisonous : perhaps a species of 
Latrodectus, but probably only a harvest-mite, 
and not poisonous. 
There is found in the summer a kind of spider called 
a tainct, of a red colour, and so little of body that ten of 
the largest will hardly outweigh a grain. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 27. 
taint 1 (tant), v. [< taint 1 , n. ; partly < taint 1 , a., 
and ult. < OF. teindre, taindre, pp. teint, < L. 
tingere, pp. tinctus, tinge, dye, color : see tinge. 
In some senses taint is prob. associated with 
L. tangere, touch, or confused with attaint.] I. 
trans, l!. To tinge; tincture; hence, to im- 
bue; touch; affect. 
The tiger will be mild whiles she doth mourn ; 
And Nero will be tainted with remorse, 
To hear and see her plaints. 
Shak., S Hen. VI., iii. 1. 40. 
So the staunch hound the trembling deer pursues, 
And smells his footsteps in the tainted dews. 
Addison, The Campaign. 
2. To imbue with something of a deleterious 
or offensive nature ; infect or impregnate with 
a noxious substance or principle; affect with 
insalubrity, contagion, disease, or the like. 
Infection spreadeth upon that which is sound, and taint- 
eth it. Bacon, Envy (ed. 1887). 
Cold and wet lodging had so tainted their people as 
scarce any of them were free from vehement coughs. 
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 42. 
3. To make noisome or poisonous in constitu- 
tion; corrupt the elements of; render putrid, 
deleterious, or unfit for use as food or drink. 
The hottest air taints and corrupts our viands no more 
certainly . . . than the lukewarm. 
Landor, Imag. Conv., Martin and Jack. 
6162 
4. To corrupt morally ; imbue with perverse 
or objectionable ideas ; exert a vitiating influ- 
ence over; pervert; contaminate. 
Treason and tainted thoughts are all the gods 
Thou worship'dst. 
Beau, and FL, Knight of Malta, iv. 2. 
Therefore who taints his Sonl may be said to throw 
Dirt in God's Face. Howell, Letters, iv. 21. 
5. To give a corrupted character or appearance 
to; affect injuriously ; stain; sully; tarnish. 
Glorious followers . . . are full of inconvenience, for 
they taint business through want of secrecy. 
Bacon, Followers and Friends (ed. 1887). 
The truth 
With superstitions and traditions taint. 
Milton, P. L., xii. 512. 
The Honour of a Gentleman is liable to be tainted by as 
small a Matter as the Credit of a Trader. 
Steele, Conscious Lovers, iv. 1. 
6!. To disgrace ; fix contumely upon. 
'Tis dishonour, 
And, follow'd, will be impudence, Bonduca, 
And grow to no belief, to taint these Romans. 
Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 1. 
7t. To treat with a tincture ; embrocate ; mol- 
lify. 
Launcing the wound thou shouldest taint, and prick- 
ing the heart which asketh a plaister. 
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 314. 
=Syn. 2-5. Contaminate, Defile, Taint, Pollute, Corrupt, 
Vitiate. Whether these words are regarded as meaning 
the injuring of purity or the spoiling of value, they are in 
the order of strength, except that each is used in different 
degrees of strength, and that vitiate is one of the weaker 
words and taint a strong word for rendering impure. Cor- 
rupt means the absolute destruction of purity. They all 
suggest an influence from without coming upon or into 
that whose purity or value is injured. 
II. intrans. l!. To be tinged or tinctured; be- 
come imbued or touched. 
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane 
I cannot taint with fear. Shak., Macbeth, v. 3. 3. 
2. To become tainted or rancid; be affected 
with incipient putrefaction. 
You cannot preserve it [flesh] from tainting. 
Shak., Cymbeline, i. 4. 148. 
taint 1 ! (tant), a. [< ME. teint, < OF. teint, pp. of 
teindre, tinge : see taint 1 , v.] Tainted ; touched ; 
imbued. 
A pure unspotted heart, 
Never yet taint with love, I send the king. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 3. 183. 
taint 2 ! (tant), v. [A var. of ten* 2 , tempt. Cf. 
taunt 1 .] I. trans. 1. To touch or hit in tilting; 
reach with a thrust, as of a lance or other 
weapon. 
The ii. course they tainted eche other on y helmes and 
passed by. Berners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. clxviii. 
This lovely boy . . . bestrid a Scythian steed, 
Trotting the ring and tilting at a glove, 
Which when he tainted with his slender rod, 
He reined him straight. 
Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great, II., i. 3. 
2. To thrust, as a lance or other weapon, es- 
pecially in tilting. 
He will taint a staff well at tilt. 
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 1. 
Perigot. I have 
A staff to taint, and bravely. 
Chamont. Save the splinters, 
If it break in the encounter. 
, Parliament of Love, iv. 3. 
take 
a doublet of tainture.] The act of tainting, or 
the state of being tainted. 
Tax me with these hot taintures! 
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Theodoret, i. 1. 
taint- worm (taiit'werm), n. Some worm that 
taints, or is supposed to do so. [An actual worm 
which answers to this description is one of the small Ati- 
ynillulidx, as a Tylenchus, causing the disease ear-cockles 
in wheat, and commonly called vibrio ; but any insect-larva 
of such habits, as a joint- worm, would answer the poetical 
requirements of the name.] 
As killing as the canker to the rose, 
Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze. 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 46. 
Tai-ping, Tae-ping (ti'ping'), . [Chinese, < 
t'ai, a form of to, great, + p'ing, peace: see 
def.] One of those who took part in the great 
rebellion inaugurated in southern China in 
1850 by one Hung-siu-tsuen, who, calling him- 
self the " Heavenly Prince," pretended that 
he had a divine mission to overturn the Man- 
chu dynasty and set up a purely native dynas- 
ty, to be styled the T'ai-p'ing Chao, or ' Great- 
peace Dynasty.' As the cue had been imposed (about 
1644) upon the Chinese by the Manchus as an outward 
expression of loyalty to the Tatar dynasty, the Tai-pings 
discarded the cue, and hence were styled by the Chinese 
Ch'ang-mao-tseh,oi 'long-haired rebels.' Hung-siu-tsuen 
also promulgated a kind of spurious Christianity, in which 
God (Shangti) was known as the " Heavenly Father," and 
Jesus Christ as the "Heavenly Elder Brother." The in- 
surrection was suppressed about 1864, largely with the aid 
of the " Ever-victorious Army " under Colonel Gordon, who 
from that time became known as "Chinese Gordon." 
taira, tayra (ti'ra), . [S. Amer.] A South 
American musteline carnivore, Gatera barbara. 
tairge (tarj), v. t. A Scotch form of targe*. 
tairn (tarn), n. A Scotch form of tern 1 . 
taisch (tasch), . [Sometimes also task ; < Gael. 
taibhs, taibltse, the shade of one departed, a 
ghost, apparition, vision.] The voice of one 
who is about to die heard by a person at a dis- 
tance. [Scotch.] 
Some women . . . said to him they had heard two taischs 
(that is, two voices of persons about to die), and, what 
was remarkable, one of them was an English taisch, which 
they never heard before. Boswell, Journal, p. 172. 
tait 1 !, a. [ME. tait, tayt, < Icel. teitr, cheerful, = 
OHG. zeiz, tender.] Cheerful ; lively. 
tait 1 !, n. [ME. : see tait 1 , a.] Cheerfulness ; 
sport. 
tait 2 (tat), . [Origin obscure.] The top of a 
hill. [Prov. Eng.] 
tait 3 , n. See tate. 
tait 4 (tat), n. [Australian.] A marsupial 
mammal of Australia, Tarsipes rostratus. Also 
called noolbenger. See Tarsipes. 
Tait's operation. See operation. 
taivers, i>. pi- See tavers. 
taivert, a. See tavert. 
taj (taj), n. [Pers., < Ar.] A crown ; diadem ; 
crest; ornamental or distinctive head-dress; 
specifically, in Mohammedan usage, the pecu- 
liar conical cap assumed by dervishes receiving 
full initiation. The word, as denoting an object of 
distinguished excellence, occurs in the name of the Taj 
Mahal, the splendid temple-mausoleum of Shah Jehan 
(1628-58) at Agra in India. See cut under Mogul. 
tajacu, tajassu (ta-yas'o), n. [S. Amer.] The 
common or collared peccary, IHcotyles torguatus 
or D. tajacu. Compare taguicati, and see cut 
tilt, or, by extension, in battle. 
This taint he follow'd with his sword, drawn from a silver 
sheath. Chapman, Iliad, iii. 374. 
taint 3 ! (tant), i). t. [< ME. teinten; by apheresis 
from attaint.] To attaint, 
taintless (tant'les), a. [< taint 1 + -less.] Free 
from taint or infection ; pure. 
No humours gross, or frowzy steams, . . . 
Could from her taintless body flow. 
Swift, Strephon and Chloe. 
taintlessly (tant'les-li), adv. Without taint; 
purely. 
taintor! (tan'tpr), n. [ME., < OF. taintor, tain- 
tur, taintour, adyer, < LL. tinctor, dyer, < L. tin- 
gere, pp. tinctus, dye : see taint 1 , v. The word 
exists in the surname Taintor.] A dyer. 
The cloth was next "teased" to bring out the nap, . . . 
when it was finished and ready for the Dyer, Litter, or 
Lister, or the Norman Taintor or Taintur. 
D. M. MeAnally, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXV. 812. 
tainture! (tan'tur), n. [< OF. tainture, tein- 
ture, F. teintufe = Pr. tentura = Sp. Pg. It. 
tintura, < L. tinetura, a dyeing, a dye, < tingere, 
pp. tinctus, dye, tinge : see tinge, and cf . tincture, 
seize; akin to Goth, tekan (pret. taitok, pp. 
tekans), touch, = L. tangere (\f tag), touch: see 
tangent. The verb take in E. is of Scand. ori- 
gin; it appears first in late AS., the reg. AS. 
verb being niman, E. obs. or dial, nim: see 
mm 1 .] I. trans. 1. To lay hold of with the 
hand, fingers, arms, mouth, or other means of 
holding; grasp; seize. 
Oure lorde . . . had hym take the vessel! whiche that 
he hadde, and sette it vpon the table. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 59. 
He took his sword under his arm, 
And he walk'd his father's close about. 
Grmme and Bewick (Child's Ballads, III. 81). 
He took me by the hand and burst out in tears. 
Stede, Tatler, No. 114. 
I cannot take thy hand ; that too is flesh, 
And in the flesh thou hast sinn'd. 
Tennyson, Guinevere. 
2. To touch. See to take the ground, below. 
Ure lord . . . spredde his hond, and tok his lepre ; . . . 
and al-so rathe he was i-warisd of his maladie. 
Old Eng. Misc. (ed. Morris), p. SI. 
3. To bring into one's possession or power; 
acquire: obtain; procure; get: used of results 
