under arrest

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

ar•rest /əˈrɛst/   v. [~ + object]

1. Law to seize (a person) by legal authority:
   The police arrested the burglar.
2. to catch and hold;
   attract:
   A loud noise arrested our attention.
3. to stop (something) or to cause (something) to slow down:
   The new drug seemed to arrest the progress of the disease.

n. [countable]

4. Law the taking of a person into legal custody (as by the police):
   made an arrest.
5. an act of stopping or the state of being stopped:
   cardiac arrest.

Idioms

6. Law, Idioms under arrest, in custody of the police.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

ar•rest  (ə rest′), v.t. 

1. to seize (a person) by legal authority or warrant;
   take into custody:
   The police arrested the burglar.
2. to catch and hold;
   attract and fix;
   engage:
   The loud noise arrested our attention.
3. to check the course of;
   stop;
   slow down:
   to arrest progress.
4. [Med.] to control or stop the active progress of (a disease):
   The new drug did not arrest the cancer.

n. 

5. the taking of a person into legal custody, as by officers of the law.
6. any seizure or taking by force.
7. an act of stopping or the state of being stopped:
   the arrest of tooth decay.
8. [Mach.] any device for stopping machinery;
   stop.
9. under arrest, in custody of the police or other legal authorities:
   They placed the suspect under arrest at the scene of the crime.

• Anglo-French, Old French, noun, nominal derivative of verb, verbal
• Vulgar Latin *arrestāre to stop (see ar-, rest²); (noun, nominal) Middle English arest(e)
• Anglo-French, Middle French arester,
• (verb, verbal) Middle English aresten 1275–1325

ar•rest′a•ble, adj. 
ar•rest′ment, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. apprehend.
• 2. secure, rivet, occupy.
• 3. stay. See stop. 
• 5. detention, apprehension, imprisonment.
• 7. stoppage, halt, stay, check.