impeach

verb

Etymology: From Middle English empechen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman empecher, from Old French empeechier (“to hinder”), from Latin impedicāre (“to fetter”). Cognate with French empêcher (“to prevent”).

1. To hinder, impede, or prevent.

   “These ungracious practices of his sons did impeach his journey to the Holy Land.”

   “I was afraid the same defluxion of Salt Rheum which fell from my Temples into my Throat in Oxford, and distilling upon the Uvula, impeached my Utterance a little to this Day”

2. To bring a legal proceeding against a public official.

   “President Clinton was impeached by the House in November 1998, but since the Senate acquitted him, he was not removed from office.”

3. To charge with impropriety; to discredit; to call into question.
4. To demonstrate in court that a testimony under oath contradicts another testimony from the same person, usually one taken during deposition.