arrest

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- +‎ rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹɛst/
• Hyphenation: ar‧rest
• Rhymes: -ɛst

• Audio (US):

  (file)

arrest (countable and uncountable, plural arrests)

1. A check, stop, an act or instance of arresting something.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

2. The condition of being stopped, standstill.

   cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest

3. (law) The process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc.

   State police made a total of 15 drug-related arrests across the city.

4. A confinement, detention, as after an arrest.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

5. A device to physically arrest motion.
6. (nautical) The judicial detention of a ship to secure a financial claim against its operators.
7. (obsolete) Any seizure by power, physical or otherwise.
   • 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:

     The sad stories of fire from heaven, the burning of his sheep, etc., […] were sad arrests to his troubled spirit.

8. (farriery) A scurfiness of the back part of the hind leg of a horse^[1]

arrest (third-person singular simple present arrests, present participle arresting, simple past and past participle arrested)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To stop the motion of (a person, animal, or body part). [14th–19th c.]
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:

     An vncouth paine torments my grieued ſoule,
     And death arreſts the organe of my voyce.

   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 11:

     Nor could her virtues, nor repeated vows Of thousand lovers, the relentless hand Of Death arrest;

   • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 86:

     Mr. Van Rensberg broke the spell by arresting Martha as she trailed past him on Billy's arm, by pointing his pipestem at her and saying, ‘Hey, Matty, come here a minute.’

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To stay, remain. [14th–16th c.]
   • 1538, John Leland, Itineraries:

     A white Starre […] whiche to every mans sighte did lighte and arrest apon the Standard of Albry.

3. (transitive) To stop or slow (a process, course etc.). [from 14th c.]
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 707:

     To try to arrest the spiral of violence, I contacted Chief Buthelezi to arrange a meeting.

   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 69 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN

     Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables …Western reason had entered the age of judgement.

4. (transitive) To seize (someone) with the authority of the law; to take into legal custody. [from 14th c.]

   The police have arrested a suspect in the murder inquiry.

   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     I arrest thee of high treason.

   • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I:

     The policeman who arrests the "Red" does not understand the theories the "Red" is preaching; if he did, his own position as bodyguard of the monied class might seem less pleasant to him.

5. (transitive) To catch the attention of. [from 19th c.]
   • 1919: P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves:

     There is something about this picture—something bold and vigorous, which arrests the attention. I feel sure it would be highly popular.

6. (intransitive, medicine) To undergo cardiac arrest.
   • 2004, Euan A. Ashley, Josef Niebauer, Cardiology Explained, page 66:

     Realizing the mistake immediately from the outline of the RCA on the fluoroscope screen, he rapidly removed the catheter – just as his patient arrested.

• (to stop the motion of): freeze, halt; See also Thesaurus:immobilize
• (to stay):
• (to stop or slow a process): cease, discontinue; See also Thesaurus:desist
• (to seize someone): apprehend, seize; See also Thesaurus:capture
• (to catch the attention of): attract, dazzle, engage, entice; See also Thesaurus:allure

• arrestation

• Arters, arrêts, rarest, raster, raters, retars, starer, starre, tarres, terras

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əˈrest]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [aˈrest]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

arrest m (plural arrests or arrestos)

1. arrest

• ordre d'arrest

• “arrest”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “arrest”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “arrest” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “arrest” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Via German Arrest from Middle French arrest (“arrest”) (French arrêt), derived from the verb arrester (“to hold back, arrest”) (arrêter), borrowed to Danish arrestere.

• IPA^(key): [aˈʁasd̥], [aˈʁɑsd̥]

arrest c (singular definite arresten, plural indefinite arrester)

1. arrest (the process of holding back a suspect)
2. confinement, detention (a short-time prison)

From Middle Dutch arrest, from Old French arest.

• IPA^(key): /ɑˈrɛst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ar‧rest
• Rhymes: -ɛst

arrest n (plural arresten, diminutive arrestje n)

1. (law) sentence passed by a higher court
2. (law) confiscation ordered by a legal ruling
3. (law, historical) detention, confinement, especially after being arrested

• huisarrest
• kamerarrest
• stadsarrest

• → Indonesian: ares
• Negerhollands: arrest

• raster, terras

Borrowed from Italian arresto.

• IPA^(key): /arˈrɛst/

• Audio (Gozo):

  (file)

arrest m (plural arresti)

1. arrest, detention

From Old French arester.

arrest m (definite singular arresten, indefinite plural arrester, definite plural arrestene)

1. arrest, custody, detention

• husarrest
• politiarrest

• arrestasjon
• arrestere

• “arrest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old French arester.

arrest m (definite singular arresten, indefinite plural arrestar, definite plural arrestane)

1. arrest, custody, detention

• husarrest
• politiarrest

• arrestasjon
• arrestere

• “arrest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

arrest c

1. a location with holding cells or the like for temporarily detaining people (usually at a police station)

   Synonym: (slang) kurra

   sitta i arresten

   be in the holding cell area / (by implication) be in custody

2. arrest, custody, detention

   husarrest

   house arrest

• arrestera

• häkte

• arrest in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• arrest in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• arrest in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• arters, estrar, raster, tsarer