arrest

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
arrest/əˈrest/

▶verb

• 1 seize (someone) by legal authority and take them into custody.

  ■ seize and detain (a ship) by legal authority.

• 2 stop or check (progress or a process).

  ■ suffer a heart attack: they were trying to resuscitate a patient who had arrested.

• 3 (usu. as adj. arresting) attract the attention of: an arresting shade of blue.

▶noun

• 1 the action of arresting.

• 2 a sudden cessation of motion: a cardiac arrest.

– phrases
arrest of judgement Law the suspension of proceedings in a criminal trial between the verdict and the sentence on the grounds of a material irregularity in the course of the trial.

– derivatives
arrestee noun (chiefly N. Amer.),
arrestingly adverb.

– origin ME: from OFr. arester, based on L. ad- ‘at, to’ + restare ‘remain, stop’.