Definition of "arrest"

arrest

/əˈɹɛst/

noun
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.
  Quotations
  The sad stories of fire from heaven, the burning of his sheep, etc., […] were sad arrests to his troubled spirit.
  1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655
8. (farriery) A scurfiness of the back part of the hind leg of a horse
verb
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, animal, or body part).
  Quotations
  An vncouth paine torments my grieued ſoule,And death arreſts the organe of my voyce.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act II, scene vii
  Nor could her virtues, nor repeated vows Of thousand lovers, the relentless hand Of Death arrest;
  1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], page 11
  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.’
  1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 86
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To stay, remain.
  Quotations
  A white Starre […] whiche to every mans sighte did lighte and arrest apon the Standard of Albry.
  1538, John Leland, Itineraries
3. (transitive) To stop or slow (a process, course etc.).
  Quotations
  To try to arrest the spiral of violence, I contacted Chief Buthelezi to arrange a meeting.
  1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, published 2010, page 707
  Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables …Western reason had entered the age of judgement.
  1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 69 (Totem Books, Icon Books;
4. (transitive) To seize (someone) with the authority of the law; to take into legal custody.
  Quotations
  I arrest thee of high treason.
  1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]
  The policeman who arrests the "Red" does not understand the theories the "Red" is preaching; if he did, his own position as bodyguard of the monied class might seem less pleasant to him.
  1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I
5. (transitive) To catch the attention of.
  Quotations
  There is something about this picture—something bold and vigorous, which arrests the attention. I feel sure it would be highly popular.
  1919: P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves
6. (intransitive, medicine) To undergo cardiac arrest.
  Quotations
  Realizing the mistake immediately from the outline of the RCA on the fluoroscope screen, he rapidly removed the catheter – just as his patient arrested.
  2004, Euan A. Ashley, Josef Niebauer, Cardiology Explained, page 66

Definition of "arrest"

arrest

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