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

The act of reattaining.

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 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.

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.

ery man be contented with that which Providence allots him. Ten years I will allot to the attainment of knowledge. Johnson.

er, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling a way ambition: By that sin fell the angels. Shak. The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres. Burke.

The attainment or reaching of any object, by effort, or in natural course; as, our arrival at this conclusion was wholly unexpected.

One who aspires; one who eagerly seeks some high position or object of attainment. In consequence of the resignations . . . the way to greatness was left clear to a new set of aspirants. Macaulay.

Attainment. [Obs.]

by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order. (b) Anything the attainment of which is an object of great ambition; a distinction; a prize. "These [scholarships] were the blue ribbon of the college." Farrar.

The attainment of the highest point of altitude reached by a heavently body; passage across the meridian; transit.

r rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or university, in recognition of their attainments; as, the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.

To defeat of expectation or hope; to hinder from the attainment of that which was excepted, hoped, or desired; to balk; as, a man is disappointed of his hopes or expectations, or his hopes, desires, intentions, expectations, or plans are disappointed; a bad season disappoints the farmer of his crops; a defeat disappoin…

To exert physical or intellectual strength for the attainment of; to use efforts to effect; to strive to achieve or reach; to try; to attempt. It is our duty to endeavor the recovery of these beneficial subjects. Ld. Chatham. To endeavor one's self, to exert one's self strenuously to the fulfillment of a duty. [Obs.] "…

Important in the highest degree; indispensable to the attainment of an object; indispensably necessary. Judgment's more essential to a general Than courage. Denham. How to live -- that is the essential question for us. H. Spencer.

thority to be of the more weighty credence. Bp. Gardiner. Famous men, -- whose scientific attainments were esteemed hardly less than supernatural. Hawthorne.

Failure of success when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage. Milton. Nor e'er was fate so near a foil. Dryden.

ldsmith. A wild goose chase, an attempt to accomplish something impossible or unlikely of attainment. -- Fen goose. See under Fen. -- Goose barnacle (Zoöl.), any pedunculated barnacle of the genus Anatifa or Lepas; -- called also duck barnacle. See Barnacle, and Cirripedia. -- Goose cap, a silly person. [Obs.] Beau.…