Penance
Penance , noun
[Old French penance, peneance, Latin paenitentia repentance. See Penitence.]
1.
Repentance. [Obsolete] — Wyclif (Luke xv. 7)
2.
Pain; sorrow; suffering. [Obsolete]
Joy or penance he feeleth none.
3.
(Ecclesiastical) 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. — Schaff-Herzog Encyc
And bitter penance, with an iron whip.
Quoth he, “The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.”
4.
Any act performed by a person to atone for an offense to another; an act of atonement. [Colloquial]
Penance , transitive verb
To impose penance; to punish.
Some penanced lady elf.