arrest

From Old French arester (“to stay, stop”), from Vulgar Latin *arrestare, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restare (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stare (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹɛst/
• Hyphenation: ar‧rest
• Rhymes: -ɛst

• audio (US)

  (file)

arrest (countable and uncountable, plural arrests)

1. A check, stop, an act or instance of arresting something.
2. The condition of being stopped, standstill.
3. (law) The process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc.
4. A confinement, detention, as after an arrest.
5. A device to physically arrest motion.
6. (nautical) The judicial detention of a ship to secure a financial claim against its operators.
7. (obsolete) Any seizure by power, physical or otherwise.
   • Jeremy Taylor

     The sad stories of fire from heaven, the burning of his sheep, etc., […] were sad arrests to his troubled spirit.

8. (farriery) A scurfiness of the back part of the hind leg of a horse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of White to this entry?)

• arrest warrant
• cardiac arrest
• house arrest

arrest (third-person singular simple present arrests, present participle arresting, simple past and past participle arrested)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To stop the motion of (a person or animal). [14th-19th c.]
   • Philips

     Nor could her virtues the relentless hand / Of Death arrest.

   • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther 1974, p. 86:

     Mr. Van Rensberg broke the spell by arresting Martha as she trailed past him on Billy's arm, by pointing his pipestem at her and saying, ‘Hey, Matty, come here a minute.’

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To stay, remain. [14th-16th c.]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

3. (transitive) To stop or slow (a process, course etc.). [from 14th c.]
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 707:

     To try to arrest the spiral of violence, I contacted Chief Buthelezi to arrange a meeting.

   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 69 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN

     Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables …Western reason had entered the age of judgement.

4. (transitive) To seize (someone) with the authority of the law; to take into legal custody. [from 14th c.]

   The police have arrested a suspect in the murder inquiry.

   • Shakespeare

     I arrest thee of high treason.

5. (transitive) To catch the attention of. [from 19th c.]
   • 1919: P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves:

     There is something about this picture—something bold and vigorous, which arrests the attention. I feel sure it would be highly popular.

• (to stop the motion of): freeze, halt; See also Thesaurus:immobilize
• (to stay):
• (to stop or slow a process): cease, discontinue; See also Thesaurus:desist
• (to seize someone): apprehend, seize; See also Thesaurus:capture
• (to catch the attention of): attract, dazzle, engage, entice; See also Thesaurus:allure

• arrester, arrestor
• arrestment
• arresting

• Arters, rarest, raster, raters, retars, starer, starre, tarres, terras

arrest m (plural arrests or arrestos)

1. arrest

From Middle Dutch arrest, from Old French arest.

• IPA^(key): /ɑˈrɛst/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ar‧rest
• Rhymes: -ɛst

arrest n (plural arresten, diminutive arrestje n)

1. detention, confinement, especially after being arrested
2. (law) sentence passed by a higher court

• huisarrest
• kamerarrest
• stadsarrest

• raster, terras

From Old French arester

arrest m (definite singular arresten, indefinite plural arrester, definite plural arrestene)

1. arrest, custody, detention

• husarrest
• politiarrest

• arrestasjon
• arrestere

• “arrest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old French arester

arrest m (definite singular arresten, indefinite plural arrestar, definite plural arrestane)

1. arrest, custody, detention

• husarrest
• politiarrest

• arrestasjon
• arrestere

• “arrest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.