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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.
Historical Examples

The dead was arrestable: a law afterwards set aside, “for death dissolved all things.”
Legal Lore Various

Burgh customs still stand in the peculiar position of being neither adjudgeable nor arrestable; they are therefore bad security.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 Various

adjective
liable to be arrested
(of an offence) such that an offender may be arrested without a warrant
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