penance : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: penance	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for penance
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
penance n remorse for your past conduct [syn: repentance, penitence, penance] a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and atonement and absolution voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing Synonym(s): penance, self-mortification, self- abasement
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Penance \Pen"ance\, n. [OF. penance, peneance, L. paenitentia repentance. See {Penitence}.] 1. Repentance. [Obs.] --Wyclif (Luke xv. 7). 2. Pain; sorrow; suffering. [Obs.] [bd]Joy or penance he feeleth none.[b8] --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. 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, [bd]The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.[b8] --Coleridge.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Penance \Pen"ance\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penanced}.] To impose penance; to punish. [bd]Some penanced lady elf.[b8] --Keats.