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to seize (a person) by legal authority or warrant; take into custody:
The police arrested the burglar.
to catch and hold; attract and fix; engage:
The loud noise arrested our attention.
to check the course of; stop; slow down:
to arrest progress.
Medicine/Medical. to control or stop the active progress of (a disease):
The new drug did not arrest the cancer.
the taking of a person into legal custody, as by officers of the law.
any seizure or taking by force.
an act of stopping or the state of being stopped:
the arrest of tooth decay.
Machinery. any device for stopping machinery; stop.
under arrest, in custody of the police or other legal authorities:
They placed the suspect under arrest at the scene of the crime.
Contemporary Examples

Sullivan has by then moved in to help and he seeks to complete the arrest of the first man.
Protesters Slimed This Good Samaritan Cop Michael Daly December 15, 2014

Health care was the focus, but a question about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. turned it into great political theater.
Top Five Moments From Obama’s Press Conference The Daily Beast Video July 21, 2009

“We will save lives and arrest the traffickers, but the Mediterranean is not ours alone,” Renzi says.
Confessions of a Human Trafficker Who Smuggled Desperate Migrants Into Europe Barbie Latza Nadeau June 4, 2014

To have the strongest possible legal case, the undercover agent had to see the drugs before his support team could make an arrest.
The Devil’s Drug: The True Story of Meth in New Mexico Nick Romeo August 23, 2013

“They cannot find them or arrest them in 30 days, 60 days, one year, two years, 30 years, or even 300 years,” he said.
Panel Indicts Hizbullah in Lebanese Minister’s Murder Babak Dehghanpisheh August 16, 2011

Historical Examples

On the day after your arrest, saying your dear ones should be cared for and comforted.
The Eternal City Hall Caine

From the moment of their arrest, the examination proceeded with great rapidity.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 Various

I won out of France with the very papers ordering my arrest.
The Trampling of the Lilies Rafael Sabatini

If I see them look at each other, I’ll put them both in arrest.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 Various

I can do it in Tarragona: they will arrest you there if I tell them.
Vine and Olive; Or Young America in Spain and Portugal Oliver Optic

verb (transitive)
to deprive (a person) of liberty by taking him into custody, esp under lawful authority
to seize (a ship) under lawful authority
to slow or stop the development or progress of (a disease, growth, etc)
to catch and hold (one’s attention, sight, etc)
(law) arrest judgment, to stay proceedings after a verdict, on the grounds of error or possible error
(informal) can’t get arrested, (of a performer) is unrecognized and unsuccessful: he can’t get arrested here but is a megastar in the States
noun
the act of taking a person into custody, esp under lawful authority
the act of seizing and holding a ship under lawful authority
the state of being held, esp under lawful authority: under arrest
Also called arrestation (ˌærɛsˈteɪʃən). the slowing or stopping of the development or progress of something
the stopping or sudden cessation of motion of something: a cardiac arrest
v.

“to cause to stop,” also “to detain legally,” late 14c., from Old French arester “to stay, stop” (Modern French arrêter), from Vulgar Latin *arrestare (source of Italian arrestare, Spanish and Portuguese arrestar), from Latin ad- “to” (see ad-) + restare “to stop, remain behind, stay back” (see rest (n.2)). Figurative sense of “to catch and hold” (the attention, etc.) is from 1814.
n.

late 14c., from Anglo-French arest, Old French areste, from arester (see arrest (v.)).

arrest ar·rest (ə-rěst’)
v. ar·rest·ed, ar·rest·ing, ar·rests

To stop; check.

To undergo cardiac arrest.

n.

An interference with or a checking of the regular course of a disease or symptom, a stoppage.

Interference with the performance of a function.

The inhibition of a developmental process, usually the ultimate stage of development.

see: under arrest