Definition of "penance"

penance

/ˈpɛn.əns/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural penances
1. A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
  Quotations
  Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."
  1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798
2. A sacrament in some Christian churches.
3. Any instrument of self-punishment.
4. (obsolete) repentance
5. (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering
verb
third-person singular simple present penances, present participle penancing, simple past and past participle penanced
1. To impose penance; to punish.
  Quotations
  She seem'd, at once, some penanced lady elf, / Some demon mistress, or the demon's self.
  1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, part I, page 6