ar·rest
(ə-rĕst′)v. ar·rest·ed, ar·rest·ing, ar·rests
v.tr.1. To stop; check: a brake that automatically arrests motion; arrested the growth of the tumor.
2. To seize and hold under the authority of law.
3. To capture and hold briefly (the attention, for example); engage.
v.intr. To undergo cardiac arrest: The patient arrested en route to the hospital.
n.1. a. The act of detaining in legal custody: the arrest of a criminal suspect.
b. The state of being so detained: a suspect under arrest.
2. A device for stopping motion, especially of a moving part.
3. The act of stopping or the condition of being stopped.
[Middle English
aresten, from Old French
arester, from Vulgar Latin
*arrestāre : Latin
ad-,
ad- + Latin
restāre,
to stand still (
re-,
re- +
stāre,
to stand; see
stā- in
Indo-European roots).]
ar·rest′a·ble adj.
ar·rest′er, ar·res′tor n.
ar·rest′ment n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
arrestment
(əˈrɛstmənt) n (Law) Scots law the seizure of money or property to prevent a debtor paying one creditor in advance of another
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014