impeach

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪmˈpiːt͡ʃ/ (UK); /ɪmˈpit͡ʃ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English empechen “to hinder; to accuse”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Anglo-Norman empecher (“to hinder, ensnare”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Old French empeechier,^[3][4] from Late Latin impedicare (“to fetter, entangle”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin in- and pedica “fetter, shackle”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from pēs “foot”.^[3][4][5][6] It is related to impede and foot.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To impede, hinder or prevent (c. 1380), a sense now obsolete.^[7][4][1]

Semantic evolution

The AHD notes that Middle English empechen meant such things as “to cause to get stuck fast” and “to hinder”.^[2] A legal sense, “to accuse, bring charges against”, which had already developed in Old French, is recorded from about 1380–84.^[7][2][4] By the mid-15th century it referred to a formal accusation of treason or other high crime by the House of Commons,^[4][2] and by the 1560s (1568) to accusing a public officer of misconduct in office.^[3][4] Etymonline suggests that the shift in sense may owe something to confusion with Latin impetere “to attack, accuse”.^[4] From 1590 the verb also meant to call something into question or discredit it.^[7] The United States borrowed the procedure from the British Parliament.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – to hinder (obsolete); to accuse.^[7][3]
• mid-15th century – formal accusation by the Commons.^[4]
• 1568 – to accuse a public official of misconduct.^[3]
• 1590 – to call in question, to discredit.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To charge a public official with misconduct in office before a proper tribunal.
2. To bring an accusation against.
3. To challenge the validity of or try to discredit, as the testimony of a witness.
4. To remove from office for misconduct.
5. (obsolete) To hinder or impede.

Word family

• impeacher
• impeachment
• impeachable

Related words

• impede
• impediment
• pedal
• peach

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press