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.Definition 2024
penance
penance
English
Noun
penance (plural penances)
- A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
- Coleridge
- Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."
- Coleridge
- A sacrament in some Christian churches.
- (obsolete) repentance
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif Bible (Luke xv. 7) to this entry?)
- (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering
- Chaucer
- Joy or penance he feeleth none.
- Chaucer
Quotations
- 2009: Stuart Heritage, Hecklerspray, Friday the 22nd of May in 2009 at 1 o’clock p.m., “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”
- You know all this kerfuffle about Jordan and Peter Andre, and how you don’t know if they’re really splitting up or it’s just an act, and how you can’t be bothered to find out because wasting even a fraction of your brainpower on those bright orange clueless dicksplats would make you just as bad as them and you’d feel duty-bound to fling yourself under an industrial threshing machine as penance? You do? Good.
Related terms
Translations
voluntary self-imposed punishment
sacrament in some churches
Verb
penance (third-person singular simple present penances, present participle penancing, simple past and past participle penanced)