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attracting or capable of attracting attention or interest; striking:
an arresting smile.
making or having made an :
the arresting officer.
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

He parks the car at the top of a hill overlooking the arresting meadows below, turns the radio up, and procures a smoke.
‘Hyde Park on Hudson’: Is Bill Murray as FDR an Oscar Frontrunner? Marlow Stern September 1, 2012

The film is one of the most arresting video documents I have ever seen.
How Can a Warm Man Understand a Cold Man? David Frum October 26, 2012

A dispatcher relayed instructions from a Eureka detective to the arresting deputies.
As 2014 Began, a Fateful Path to a Catholic Priest’s Murder Michael Daly January 2, 2014

China has recently cracked down on LGBT activists, arresting nine in a sweep on Wednesday, and four more on Friday.
Americans Celebrating Our LGBT Victories Need To Be More Cognizant That Elsewhere, Repression Is Winning Jay Michaelson May 16, 2014

At first glance this seems an arresting development, as it were.
Toddlers Denied Tiaras: Behind the French Push to Ban Pageants Christopher Dickey September 18, 2013

Historical Examples

It could not answer the purpose of arresting inquiry and staying investigation.
Historic Oddities Sabine Baring-Gould

I told you Naarboveck was out of reach as far as arresting him goes.
A Nest of Spies Pierre Souvestre

It is often helpful in arresting attention and therefore has a certain disciplinary function.
Principles of Teaching Adam S. Bennion

The arresting officer mounts to the witness-stand and confronts him.
Dr. Sevier George W. Cable

We shall do the work of good patriots by arresting a traitor.
The Flying Horseman Gustave Aimard

adjective
attracting attention; striking
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
n.

early 15c., “action of stopping” someone or something, verbal noun from arrest (v.).
adj.

“striking, that captures the imagination,” 1792, present participle adjective from arrest (v.).
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