WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Pen"ance
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [OF. penance, peneance, L. paenitentia repentance. See Penitence.]
Definition : 1. Repentance. [Obs.] Wyclif (Luke xv. 7).

2. Pain; sorrow; suffering. [Obs.] "Joy or penance he feeleth none." Chaucer.

3. (Eccl.)

Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Pen"ance
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : Defn: To impose penance; to punish. "Some penanced lady elf." Keats.

t. [imp. & p. p. Penanced.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913