Penitentiary

n. [Fr. pénitentiaire, pénitencier, Pr. penedencier, Sp. penitenciario, penitenciero, It. penitenziario, penitenziere. See supra.]

1. One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. Bacon. Ayliffe.
2. A penitent; one who does penance. Hammond.
3. (Court of Rome.) An office in which are examined and delivered out the secret bulls, graces, or dispensations relating to cases of conscience, confession, and the like.
4. An officer in some cathedrals, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him. The pope has a grand penitentiary, who is a cardinal, and is chief of the other penitentiaries.
5. A place for penitents, or where penance is inflicted or offenses punished; especially, a house of correction in which offenders are confined for punishment and reformation, and compelled to labor; a work-house.