IMPEACH • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Impeach

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/ɪmpˈitʃ/ Listen

verb

Impeach v. t. (past & past part. impeached; pres. part. impeaching)

1.

To hinder; to impede; to prevent. (Obs.) "These ungracious practices of his sons did impeach his journey to the Holy Land." "A defluxion on my throat impeached my utterance."

2.

To charge with a crime or misdemeanor; to accuse; especially to charge (a public officer), before a competent tribunal, with misbehavior in office; to cite before a tribunal for judgment of official misconduct; to arraign; as, to impeach a judge. See Impeachment.

3.

Hence, to charge with impropriety; to dishonor; to bring discredit on; to call in question; as, to impeach one's motives or conduct. "And doth impeach the freedom of the state."

4.

(Law) To challenge or discredit the credibility of, as of a witness, or the validity of, as of commercial paper. Note: When used in law with reference to a witness, the term signifies, to discredit, to show or prove unreliable or unworthy of belief; when used in reference to the credit of witness, the term denotes, to impair, to lessen, to disparage, to destroy. The credit of a witness may be impeached by showing that he has made statements out of court contradictory to what he swears at the trial, or by showing that his reputation for veracity is bad, etc.

Synonyms: To accuse; arraign; censure; criminate; indict; impair; disparage; discredit. See Accuse.

noun

Impeach n. Hindrance; impeachment. (Obs.)

See images of 'Impeach'

Etymology of 'Impeach'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impeach" Quotes from Famous Books

... composed of her best men, with the most brilliant orator of the nation, to plead their cause at the bar of the convention. In contrast with this, Fillmore had no support from New York. The Whigs of that State had sent a delegation to impeach him before the nation for faithlessness to principle, and to demand that votes of other States should not impose on New York a recreant son to ...

— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine

... candidate of the Democracy was elected. He was a man of worth and was eager to do the people's bidding. This, however, was not productive of any good to the people, as the President had a House and Senate hostile to him. Thrice his first Congress had attempted to impeach him, and they were deterred from carrying out their partisan measure only by the ominous demonstration of the laboring men in all ...

— The Transgressors - Story of a Great Sin • Francis A. Adams

... him, however; and, getting between the boys and the door of the shed, Slegge tortured one after the other, but could not find a traitor to impeach the rest. And at last, in a fit of rage, he stepped back and with a furious kick sent the lid of the locker flying upwards; while, tearful though some of the eyes of the lookers-on were, they were full of a strange kind of exultation ...

— Glyn Severn's Schooldays • George Manville Fenn

... impeach on the earth: you shall perceive, sir, it is the most fortunate weapon that ever rid on a poor gentleman's thigh: shall I tell you, sir? you talk of Morglay, Excalibur, Durindana, or so: tut, I lend no credit to that ...

— Every Man In His Humour • Ben Jonson

... and hidden it in her own dress. The attorneys for the State listened with a somewhat cynical amusement to this portion of her testimony, believing it of no account, uncorroborated, and that if necessary the State could impeach the witness on the ground that it had been indispensable to produce her. She came down weeping from the stand; and, the next witness not being immediately called, the eyes of the jurymen naturally followed her as she passed to her seat, ...

— The Conquest of Canaan • Booth Tarkington

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