Adjacent Words

corruption of blood definitions

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Merriam Webster's

Date: 1563 the effect of an attainder which bars a person from inheriting, retaining, or transmitting any estate, rank, or title

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Corruption Cor*rup"tion (k?r-r?p"sh?n), n. [F. corruption, L. corruptio.] 1. The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration. The inducing and accelerating of putrefaction is a subject of very universal inquiry; for corruption is a reciprocal to ``generation''. --Bacon. 2. The product of corruption; putrid matter. 3. The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery. It was necessary, by exposing the gross corruptions of monasteries, . . . to exite popular indignation against them. --Hallam. They abstained from some of the worst methods of corruption usual to their party in its earlier days. --Bancroft. Note: Corruption, when applied to officers, trustees, etc., signifies the inducing a violation of duty by means of pecuniary considerations. --Abbott. 4. The act of changing, or of being changed, for the worse; departure from what is pure, simple, or correct; as, a corruption of style; corruption in language. Corruption of blood (Law), taint or impurity of blood, in consequence of an act of attainder of treason or felony, by which a person is disabled from inheriting any estate or from transmitting it to others. Corruption of blood can be removed only by act of Parliament. --Blackstone. Syn: Putrescence; putrefaction; defilement; contamination; deprivation; debasement; adulteration; depravity; taint. See Depravity.