To be affected with incipient putrefaction; as, meat soon
taints in warm weather.

Infection; corruption; deprivation.

To hit or touch lightly, in tilting.

To be infected or corrupted; to be touched with something
corrupting.

To imbue or impregnate with something extraneous,
especially with something odious, noxious, or poisonous; hence, to
corrupt; to infect; to poison; as, putrid substance taint the air.

To injure, as a lance, without breaking it; also, to
break, as a lance, but usually in an unknightly or unscientific manner.

An injury done to a lance in an encounter, without its being
broken; also, a breaking of a lance in an encounter in a dishonorable
or unscientific manner.

A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect.

To thrust ineffectually with a lance.

Fig.: To stain; to sully; to tarnish.