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To achieve or accomplish, that is, to reach by efforts; to gain; to compass; as, to attain rest. Is he wise who hopes to attain the end without the means Abp. Tillotson.

The quality of being attainable; attainbleness.

Capable of being attained or reached by efforts of the mind or body; capable of being compassed or accomplished by efforts directed to the object. The highest pitch of perfection attainable in this life. Addison.

The quality of being attainable; attainability.

The act of attainting, or the state of being attainted; the extinction of the civil rights and capacities of a person, consequent upon sentence of death or outlawry; as, an act of attainder. Abbott.

The act of attaining; the act of arriving at or reaching; hence, the act of obtaining by efforts. The attainment of every desired object. Sir W. Jones.

To attain; to get act; to hit. [Obs.]

Attainder; attainture; conviction.

Attainder; disgrace.

To attain again.

The act of reattaining.

To enter upon an office or dignity; to attain. Edward IV., who had acceded to the throne in the year 1461. T. Warton. If Frederick had acceded to the supreme power. Morley.

That which completes, perfects, or equips thoroughly; acquirement; attainment; that which constitutes excellence of mind, or elegance of manners, acquired by education or training. "My new accomplishment of dancing." Churchill. "Accomplishments befitting a station." Thackeray. Accomplishments have taken virtue's place,…

The quality of being acquirable; attainableness. [R.] Paley.

The act of acquiring, or that which is acquired; attainment. "Rules for the acquirement of a taste." Addison. His acquirements by industry were . . . enriched and enlarged by many excellent endowments of nature. Hayward.

n act to shoot." Dryden. This woman was taken . . . in the very act. John viii. 4. Act of attainder. (Law) See Attainder. -- Act of bankruptcy (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt. -- Act of faith. (Ch. Hist.) See Auto-da-Fé. -- Act of God (Law), an inevitable accident; such e…

An obtaining; attainment. [Obs.] In the wit and policy of the capitain consisteth the chief adeption of the victory. Grafton.

The first step towards the attainment of a result; approach made to gain favor, to form an acquaintance, to adjust a difference, etc.; an overture; a tender; an offer; -- usually in the plural. [He] made the like advances to the dissenters. Swift.

mericana), wrongly called Aloe. It is from ten to seventy years, according to climate, in attaining maturity, when it produces a gigantic flower stem, sometimes forty feet in height, and perishes. The fermented juice is the pulque of the Mexicans; distilled, it yields mescal. A strong thread and a tough paper are made…

Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities; as, to come of age; he (or she) is of age. Abbott.