- impair (v.)
- late 14c., a re-Latinizing of earlier ampayre, apeyre "make worse, cause to deteriorate" (c. 1300), from Old French empeirier "make worse" (Modern French empirer), from Vulgar Latin *impeiorare "make worse," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (see in- (2)) + Late Latin peiorare "make worse" (see pejorative). In reference to driving under the influence of alcohol, first recorded 1951 in Canadian English. Related: Impaired; impairing.
