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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