Dictionary![]() ![]() ar•restPronunciation: (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. Med.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. Mach.any device for stopping machinery; stop. 5. under arrest, 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.
|