penance
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English penaunce, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French peneance, from Latin paenitentia (“repentance, penitence”). Doublet of penitence.
Pronunciation
Noun
penance (countable and uncountable, plural penances)
- A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
- 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC:
- Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."
- A sacrament in some Christian churches.
- Any instrument of self-punishment.
- (obsolete) repentance
- (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
voluntary self-imposed punishment
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sacrament in some churches
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Verb
penance (third-person singular simple present penances, present participle penancing, simple past and past participle penanced)
- To impose penance; to punish.
- 1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, part I, page 6:
- She seem'd, at once, some penanced lady elf, / Some demon mistress, or the demon's self.
Noun
penance
- pain; sorrow; suffering
- c. 1380s, [Geoffrey Chaucer, William Caxton, editor], The Double Sorow of Troylus to Telle Kyng Pryamus Sone of Troye [...] [Troilus and Criseyde], [Westminster]: Explicit per Caxton, published 1482, →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], book IV, [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:
- ne Joy nor penance he feeleth none.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
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