Pain PAIN, n. [L. paena; Gr. penalty, and pain, labor.]
1. An uneasy sensation in animal bodies, of any degree from slight
uneasiness to extreme distress or torture, proceeding from pressure,
tension or spasm, separation of parts by violence, or any derangement
of functions. Thus violent pressure or stretching of a limb gives pain;
inflammation produces pain; wounds, bruises and incisions give pain.
2. Labor; work; toil; laborious effort. In this sense, the plural only
is used; as, to take pains; to be at the pains. High without taking
pains to rise. The same with pains we gain, but lose with ease.
3. Labor; toilsome effort; task; in the singular. [Not now used.]
4. Uneasiness of mind; disquietude; anxiety; solicitude for the future;
grief, sorrow for the past. We suffer pain when we fear or expect evil;
we feel pain at the loss of friends or property. 5. The throws or
distress of travail or childbirth. She bowed herself and travailed,
for her pains came upon her. 1 Sam 4. 6. Penalty; punishment suffered
or denounced; suffering or evil inflicted as a punishment for a crime,
or annexed to the commission of a crime. None shall presume to
fly under pain of death. Interpose, on pain of my displeasure. PAIN, v.t. 1. To make uneasy or to disquiet; to cause uneasy
sensations in the body, of any degree of intensity; to make simply uneasy,
or to distress, to torment. The pressure of fetters may pain a limb;
the rack pains the body. 2. To afflict; to render uneasy in mind;
to disquiet; to distress. We are pained at the death of a friend; grief
pains the heart; we are often pained with fear or solicitude. I am
pained at my very heart. Jer 4. 3. Reciprocally, to pain one's self,
to labor; to make toilsome efforts. [Little used.]
pain
n 1: a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder; "the patient
developed severe pain and distension" [syn: pain,
hurting]
2: emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to
avoid; "the pain of loneliness" [syn: pain, painfulness]
[ant: pleasance, pleasure]
3: a somatic sensation of acute discomfort; "as the intensity
increased the sensation changed from tickle to pain" [syn:
pain, pain sensation, painful sensation]
4: a bothersome annoying person; "that kid is a terrible pain"
[syn: pain, pain in the neck, nuisance]
5: something or someone that causes trouble; a source of
unhappiness; "washing dishes was a nuisance before we got a
dish washer"; "a bit of a bother"; "he's not a friend, he's
an infliction" [syn: annoyance, bother, botheration,
pain, infliction, pain in the neck, pain in the ass]
v 1: cause bodily suffering to and make sick or indisposed [syn:
trouble, ail, pain]
2: cause emotional anguish or make miserable; "It pains me to
see my children not being taught well in school" [syn:
pain, anguish, hurt]
pain
c.1280, from O.Fr. peine, from L. poena "punishment, penalty"
(in L.L. also "torment, hardship, suffering"), from Gk. poine
"punishment." The original sense in Eng. was of "punishment" (surviving
in phrase on pain of death); general sense of "person or thing who is
annoying and irritating" is from 1908. Pain in the neck "annoyance"
(1924) is recorded earlier than pain in the ass (1934) in the same
sense. Pains "great care" is first recorded 1528; painstaking (adj.) is
1556 as paynes taking.
pain I. nounEtymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French peine, from Latin
poena, from Greek poinē payment, penalty; akin to Greek
tinein to pay, tinesthai to punish, Avestan kaēnā
revenge, Sanskrit cayate he revenges Date: 14th century
1.punishment2.a. usually localized physical suffering associated with bodily
disorder (as a disease or an injury); also a basic bodily sensation
induced by a noxious stimulus, received by naked nerve endings, characterized
by physical discomfort (as pricking, throbbing, or aching), and typically
leading to evasive action b. acute mental or emotional distress
or suffering ;grief3.plural the throes of childbirth 4.plural
trouble, care, or effort taken to accomplish something <was at
pains to reassure us> 5. one that irks or annoys
or is otherwise troublesome — often used in such phrases as pain in
the neck • painlessadjective • painlesslyadverb • painlessnessnounII. verbDate: 14th century transitive verb1. to make suffer or cause distress to ;hurt2.archaic to put (oneself) to trouble or exertion
intransitive verb1.archaicsuffer2.
to give or have a sensation of pain
pain n. & v. --n. 1 a the range of unpleasant bodily sensations produced by illness or by harmful physical contact etc. b a particular kind or instance of this (often in pl.: suffering from
stomach pains). 2 mental suffering or distress. 3 (in pl.) careful effort; trouble taken (take pains; got nothing for my pains). 4 (also pain in the neck) colloq. a troublesome person or
thing; a nuisance. --v.tr. 1 cause pain to. 2 (as pained adj.) expressing pain (a pained expression). Phrases and idioms: in pain suffering pain. on (or under) pain of with
(death etc.) as the penalty. Etymology: ME f. OF peine f. L poena penalty
pain
(pains, pained)Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1. Pain is the feeling of great discomfort you have, for example when you have been
hurt or when you are ill.
...back pain....a bone disease that caused excruciating pain...I felt a sharp pain in my lower back......chest pains.N-VAR
• If you are in pain, you feel pain in a part of your body, because you are injured
or ill.
She was writhing in pain, bathed in perspiration.PHRASE: PHR after v
2. Pain is the feeling of unhappiness that you have when something unpleasant or
upsetting happens.
...grey eyes that seemed filled with pain.= anguish
N-UNCOUNT
3. If a fact or idea pains you, it makes you feel upset and disappointed.
This public acknowledgment of Ted's disability pained my mother...It pains me to think of you struggling all alone.VERB: no cont, V n, it V n to-inf, also it V n that
4. In informal English, if you call someone or something a pain or a pain in the
neck, you mean that they are very annoying or irritating. Expressions such as a pain in
the arse and a pain in the backside in British English, or a pain in the ass
and a pain in the butt in American English, are also used, but most people consider
them offensive. (INFORMAL)
PHRASE: pain inflects, v-link PHR, PHR to-inf [disapproval]
5. If someone is at pains to do something, they are very eager and anxious to do it,
especially because they want to avoid a difficult situation.
Mobil is at pains to point out that the chances of an explosion at the site are remote.= anxious
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to-inf
6. If someone is ordered not to do something on pain of or under pain of death,
imprisonment, or arrest, they will be killed, put in prison, or arrested if they do it.
We were forbidden, under pain of imprisonment, to use our native language.PREP-PHRASE
7. If you take painsto do something or go to great painsto
do something, you try hard to do it, because you think it is important to do it.
Social workers went to great pains to acknowledge men's domestic rights...I had taken great pains with my appearance.PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to-inf
pain
peɪn n. & v. --n. 1 a the range of unpleasant bodily sensations
produced by illness or by harmful physical contact etc. b a particular
kind or instance of this (often in pl.: suffering from stomach pains). 2
mental suffering or distress. 3 (in pl.) careful effort; trouble taken
(take pains; got nothing for my pains). 4 (also pain in the neck) colloq. a
troublesome person or thing; a nuisance. --v.tr. 1 cause pain to. 2 (as pained
adj.) expressing pain (a pained expression). øin pain suffering pain. on
(or under) pain of with (death etc.) as the penalty. [ME f. OF peine f. L
poena penalty]
PAIN
The scourge of life, and death's extreme disgrace,
The smoke of Hell, that monster called Paine.
Sidera: Paine. SIR P. SIDNEY.
Nothing begins, and nothing ends,
That is not paid with moan;
For we are born in others' pain,
And perish in our own.
Daisy. F. THOMPSON.
Pain is no longer pain when it is past.
Nature's Lesson. M.J. PRESTON.
Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain,
Which, with pain purchased, doth inherit pain.
Love's Labor's Lost. Act i. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
Alas! by some degree of woe
We every bliss must gain;
The heart can ne'er a transport know
That never feels a pain.
Song. LORD LYTTELTON.
Pain
Pain pays the income of each precious thing.
SHAKESPEARE: R. of Lucrece, Line 334.
Pain is no longer pain when it is past.
MARGARET J. PRESTON: Sonnet._ _Nature's Lesson.
The sad mechanic exercise
Like dull narcotics numbing pain.
TENNYSON: In Memoriam, Prologue, v., St. 2.
Pain \Pain\, n. [OE. peine, F. peine, fr. L. poena, penalty,
punishment, torment, pain; akin to Gr. ? penalty. Cf.
Penal, Pine to languish, Punish.]
1. Punishment suffered or denounced; suffering or evil
inflicted as a punishment for crime, or connected with the
commission of a crime; penalty. --Chaucer.
We will, by way of mulct or pain, lay it upon him.
--Bacon.
Interpose, on pain of my displeasure. --Dryden.
None shall presume to fly, under pain of death.
--Addison.
2. Any uneasy sensation in animal bodies, from slight
uneasiness to extreme distress or torture, proceeding from
a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by
violence; bodily distress; bodily suffering; an ache; a
smart. ``The pain of Jesus Christ.'' --Chaucer.
Note: Pain may occur in any part of the body where sensory
nerves are distributed, and it is always due to some
kind of stimulation of them. The sensation is generally
referred to the peripheral end of the nerve.
3. pl. Specifically, the throes or travail of childbirth.
She bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came
upon her. --1 Sam. iv.
19.
4. Uneasiness of mind; mental distress; disquietude; anxiety;
grief; solicitude; anguish. --Chaucer.
In rapture as in pain. --Keble.
5. See Pains, labor, effort.
Bill of pains and penalties. See under Bill.
To die in the pain, to be tortured to death. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.
Pain \Pain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pained; p. pr. & vb. n.
Paining.] [OE. peinen, OF. pener, F. peiner to fatigue. See
Pain, n.]
1. To inflict suffering upon as a penalty; to punish. [Obs.]
--Wyclif (Acts xxii. 5).
2. To put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with
uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment;
to torture; as, his dinner or his wound pained him; his
stomach pained him.
Excess of cold, as well as heat, pains us. --Locke
.
3. To render uneasy in mind; to disquiet; to distress; to
grieve; as a child's faults pain his parents.
I am pained at my very heart. --Jer. iv. 19.
To pain one's self, to exert or trouble one's self; to take
pains; to be solicitous. [Obs.] ``She pained her to do all
that she might.'' --Chaucer.
Syn: To disquiet; trouble; afflict; grieve; aggrieve;
distress; agonize; torment; torture.
PAIN
pan (chul, chil, chebhel, chalah, chalchalah, ka'-ebh, ke'ebh, metsar,
makh'obh, `amal, tsir; basanizo, ponos, odin): These words signifying
various forms of bodily or mental suffering are generally translated "pain";
28 out of the 34 passages in which the word is used are in the poetical or
prophetical books and refer to conditions of mental disquiet or dismay due
to the punishment of personal or national sin. There is only one instance
where the word is used as a historic record of personal physical pain:
the case of the wife of Phinehas (1Sa 4:19), but the same word tsir
is used figuratively in Isa 13:8; 21:3; Da 10:16, and translated
"pangs" or "sorrows." In other passages where we have the same comparison of
consternation in the presence of God's judgments to the pangs of childbirth,
the word used is chebhel, as in Isa 66:7; Jer 13:21; 22:23; 49:24. In
some of these and similar passages several synonyms are used in the one
verse to intensify the impression, and are translated "pain," "pangs," and
"sorrows," as in Isa 13:8.
The word most commonly used by the prophets is some form of chul or chil,
sometimes with the addition "as of a woman in travail," as in Ps 48:6;
Isa 26:18; Jer 6:24; 22:23; Mic 4:10. This pain is referred to the
heart (Ps 55:4) or to the head (Jer 30:23; compare Jer
30:5,6). In Eze 30:4, it is the penal affliction of Ethiopia,
and in 30:16, the King James Version "Sin (Tanis) shall have great pain"
(the Revised Version (British and American) "anguish"); in Isa 23:5
Egypt is sorely pained at the news of the fall of Tyre. Before the invading
host of locusts the people are much pained (Joe 2:6 the King James
Version). Pain in the sense of toil and trouble in Jer 12:13 is the
translation of chalah a word more frequently rendered grieving or sickness,
as in 1Ki 14:1; Pr 23:35; So 2:5; Jer 5:3. The reduplicated form
chalchalah is especially used of a twisting pain usually referred to the loins
(Isa 21:3; Eze 30:4,9; Na 2:10).
Pain in the original meaning of the word (as it has come down to us through
the Old French from the Latin poena) as a penalty inflicted for personal
sin is expressed by the words ka'ebh or ke'abh in Job 14:22; 15:20,
and in the questioning complaint of the prophet (Jer 15:18). As a
judgment on personal sin pain is also expressed by makh'obh in Job 33:19;
Jer 51:8, but this word is used in the sense of afflictions in Isa
53:3 in the expression "man of sorrows." The Psalmist (Ps 25:18)
praying for deliverance from the afflictions which weighed heavily on him
in turn uses the word `amal, and this word which primarily means "toil"
or "labor," as in Ec 1:3, or "travail" as in Isa 53:11, is
translated "painful" in Ps 73:16, as expressing Asaph's disquiet
due to his misunderstanding of the ways of Providence. The "pains of hell"
(Ps 116:3 the King James Version), which got hold of the Psalmist in
his sickness, is the rendering of the word metsar; the same word is translated
"distress" in Ps 118:5. Most of these words have a primary physical
meaning of twisting, rubbing or constricting.
In the New Testament, odin is translated "pain" (of death, the Revised Version
(British and American) "pang") in Ac 2:24. This word is used to express
any severe pain, such as that of travail, or (as in Aeschylus, Choephori,
211) the pain of intense apprehension. The verb from this, odunomai, is used
by the Rich Man in the parable to describe his torment (the Revised Version
(British and American) "anguish") (Lu 16:24). The related verb sunodino
is used in Ro 8:22 and is translated "travailing in pain together." In
much the same sense, the word is used by Euripides (Helena, 727).
In Re 12:2 the woman clothed with the sun (basanizomene) was in pain
to be delivered; the verb (basanizo) which means "to torture" is used both in
Mt 8:6 in the account of the grievously tormented centurion's servant,
and in the description of the laboring of the apostles' boat on the stormy
Sea of Galilee (Mt 14:24). The former of these seems to have been a
case of spinal meningitis. This verb occurs in Thucydides vii.86 (viii.92),
where it means "being put to torture." In the two passages in Revelation
where pain is mentioned the word is ponos, the pain which affected those on
whom the fifth vial was poured (16:10), and in the description of the City
of God where there is no more pain (21:4). The primary meaning of this word
seems to be "toil," as in Iliad xxi.525, but it is used by Hippocrates to
express disease (Aphorisma iv.44).
Alexander Macalister
pain
peɪn n.
1 hurt, suffering, discomfort, soreness, ache, aching, pang, spasm, smarting, cramp:
I feel the pain in my back from lifting that box.
2 anguish, agony, affliction, distress, grief, woe, suffering, misery, travail,
wretchedness, despair, torment, tribulation, trial, torture, dolour, discomposure, ordeal,
disquiet: No one who has not experienced it can imagine the pain of losing a child.
3 irritation, vexation, annoyance, bother, nuisance, pest, Colloq pain in the neck,
headache, drag, bore, Taboo slang pain in the Brit arse or US ass: What a pain it is that you have
forgotten your keys again! David can really be a pain when he goes on about the book he's writing.
4 pains. effort, trouble, exertion, toil, labour: She went to great pains to make our
stay comfortable. --v.
5 hurt, distress, grieve, wound, injure; trouble, depress, sadden, sorrow, cut to the
quick: It pained us to learn of Mrs McArthur's illness.
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