Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Penance
1.
Repentance.
[Obs.]
Wyclif (Luke xv. 7).
2.
Pain; sorrow; suffering.
[Obs.]
“Joy or penance he feeleth none.” Chaucer.
3.
(Eccl.)
A means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression, imposed by a confessor or other ecclesiastical authority. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.
Schaff-Herzog Encyc.
And bitter
penance
, with an iron whip. Spenser.
Quoth he, “The man hath
And
penance
done,And
penance
more will do.” Coleridge.
Pen′ance
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Penanced
.] To impose penance; to punish.
“Some penanced lady elf.” Keats.
Webster 1828 Edition
Penance
PEN'ANCE
, n.1.
The suffering, labor or pain to which a person voluntarily subjects himself, or which is imposed on him by authority as a punishment for his faults, or as an expression of penitence; such as fasting, flagellation, wearing chains, &c. Penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Romish church.2.
Repentance.