arrest: Meaning and Definition of

ar•rest

Pronunciation: (u-rest'), [key]
— v.t.
  1. to seize (a person) by legal authority or warrant; take into custody: The police arrested the burglar.
  2. to catch and hold; attract and fix; engage: The loud noise arrested our attention.
  3. to check the course of; stop; slow down: to arrest progress.
  4. to control or stop the active progress of (a disease): The new drug did not arrest the cancer.
—n.
  1. the taking of a person into legal custody, as by officers of the law.
  2. any seizure or taking by force.
  3. an act of stopping or the state of being stopped: the arrest of tooth decay.
  4. any device for stopping machinery; stop.
  5. in custody of the police or other legal authorities: They placed the suspect under arrest at the scene of the crime.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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