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penance |
3 definitions found 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.] ``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. 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 penance done And penance more will do.'' --Coleridge. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Penance \Pen"ance\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penanced}.] To impose penance; to punish. ``Some penanced lady elf.'' --Keats. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: penance n 1: remorse for your past conduct [syn: {repentance}, {penitence}] 2: a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and satisfaction and absolution 3: voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing [syn: {self-mortification}, {self-abasement}]
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