IMPE'ACH, v.t. [L. pango, pactus.]
1. To hinder; to impede. This sense is found in our early writers.
These ungracious practices of his sons did impeach his journey to the Holy Land.
A defluxion on my throat impeached my utterance.
[This application of the word is obsolete.]
2. To accuse; to charge with a crime or misdemeanor; but appropriately, to exhibit charges of maladministration against a public officer before a competent tribunal, that is, to send or put on, to load. The word is now restricted to accusations made by authority; as, to impeach a judge. [See Impeachment.]
3. To accuse; to censure; to call in question; as, to impeach one's motives or conduct.
4. To call to account; to charge as answerable.
IMPE'ACH, n. Hinderance.
