Pāin1, n.
n. [O. Eng. paine, payne, peine, peyne, O. Fr. paine, poine, poene, peine, pene, N. Fr. only peine, Pr., Sp., Pg., & It. pena, from Lat. poena, penalty, punishment, torment, pain. Gr. ποινή, A.-S. pin, Dan. pine, Sw. pina, O. H. Ger. pīna, M. H. Ger. pīne, N. H. Ger. pein, D. pijn.]
Sense 1. Punishment suffered or denounced; suffering or evil inflicted as a punishment for a crime, or annexed to the commission of a crime.
Interpose, on pain of my displeasure, Betwixt their swords. Dryden.
None shall presume to fly, under pain of death. Addison.
Sense 2. 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; bodily distress; suffering.
Sense 3. Uneasiness of mind; mental distress; disquietude; anxiety; grief; solicitude.
If the church were once thus settled, we need then be in less pain for the religion of our prince. Lesley.
Sense 4. Labor; toilsome effort; task; trouble taken; — used chiefly in the plural. “High without taking pains to rise.” Waller.
The labored earth your pains have sowed and tilled. Dryden.
The same with pains we gain, but lose with ease. Pope.
☞ Pains, as used in this sense, although really in the plural, is commonly used as a singular noun. “All my pains is sorted to no proof.” “You lay out too much pains.” Shak. “The pains they had taken was very great.” Clarendon.
Sense 5. The throes or distress of travail or childbirth.
She bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. I Sam. iv. 19.