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.
PENANCE
Pen"ance, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penanced.]
Defn: To impose penance; to punish. "Some penanced lady elf." Keats.
PENANCELESS
Pen"ance*less, a.
Defn: Free from penance. [R.]
PENANG LAWYER
Pe*nang" law"yer. [Prob. fr. Malay pinang liar.]
Defn: A kind of walking stick made from the stem of an East Asiatic palm (Licuala acutifida).