PENANCE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Penance

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/pˈɛnəns/ Listen

noun

Penance n.

Repentance. (Obs.)

Pain; sorrow; suffering. (Obs.) "Joy or penance he feeleth none."

(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. "And bitter penance, with an iron whip." "Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.""

Hence: Any act performed by a person to atone for an offense to another; an act of atonement. (Colloq.)

verb

Penance v. t. (past & past part. penanced) To impose penance; to punish. "Some penanced lady elf."

See images of 'Penance'

Etymology of 'Penance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Penance" Quotes from Famous Books

... irony in her tone. "He thought he should come home a hero, with flags flying, all the honors of the season, and forgiveness for his little faults. The girls would pet him, and papa would overlook his past. The war was a kind of easy penance for all his sins. And he never reached Cuba even, but came down with typhoid—due to pure ...

— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... the king, "too high of heart To stand before a king thou art; Yet irks it me to bid thee part And take thy penance for thy part, That God may put upon thy pride." Then Balen took the severed head And toward his hostry turned and sped As one that knew not quick from dead ...

— The Tale of Balen • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... that death," answered William Drew, "and I shall do more penance before I die. For I am only your father in name, but he is the father in your thoughts and in ...

— Trailin'! • Max Brand

... penance he's set himself. I told him by way of a joke, afther you'd run over him so convenient that night, whin he was drunk—I said if he was a Catholic he'd do penance. Off he went wid that fit in his little head an' a dose of fever, ...

— Actions and Reactions • Rudyard Kipling

... going to have a trial with this boy," said the Monks to each other; "we shall have to set him a penance at once, or we cannot manage ...

— Our Boys - Entertaining Stories by Popular Authors • Various

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