IMPE'ACHMENT, noun Hinderance; impediment; stop; obstruction.

1. An accusation or charge brought against a public officer for maladministration in his office. In Great Britain, it is the privilege or right of the house of commons to impeach, and the right of the house of lords to try and determine impeachments. In the U. States, it is the right of the house of representatives to impeach, and of the senate to try and determine impeachments. In Great Britain, the house of peers, and in the U. States, the senate of the U.States, and the senates in the several states, are the high courts of impeachment

2. The act of impeaching.

3. Censure; accusation; a calling in question the purity of motives or the rectitude of conduct, etc. This declaration is no impeachment of his motives or of his judgment.

4. The act of calling to account, as for waste.

5. The state of being liable to account, as for waste.