PUNISH • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Punish

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/pˈənɪʃ/ Listen

verb

Punish v. t. (past & past part. punished; pres. part. punishing)

To impose a penalty upon; to afflict with pain, loss, or suffering for a crime or fault, either with or without a view to the offender's amendment; to cause to suffer in retribution; to chasten; as, to punish traitors with death; a father punishes his child for willful disobedience. "A greater power Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned."

To inflict a penalty for (an offense) upon the offender; to repay, as a fault, crime, etc., with pain or loss; as, to punish murder or treason with death.

To injure, as by beating; to pommel. (Low)

To deal with roughly or harshly; chiefly used with regard to a contest; as, our troops punished the enemy. (Colloq. or Slang)

Synonyms: To chastise; castigate; scourge; whip; lash; correct; discipline. See Chasten.

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Etymology of 'Punish'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Punish" Quotes from Famous Books

... him for a moment). For shame! (Hits him lightly on the ear with the stockings.) That's to punish you. (Folds ...

— A Doll's House • Henrik Ibsen

... all subjects on which I entertain doubt. For who is better able to direct my hesitation, or to instruct my ignorance? I have never been present at the trials of Christians, and, therefore, I do not know in what way, or to what extent it is usual to question or to punish them. I have also felt no small difficulty in deciding whether age should make any difference, or whether those of the tenderest and those of mature years should be treated alike; whether pardon should be accorded to repentance, or whether, where a man ...

— Handbook of Universal Literature - From The Best and Latest Authorities • Anne C. Lynch Botta

... liberties of the country, and obstructors of national justice. Thanks were also voted to the sheriffs, and an address was presented to his majesty, praying that measures might be taken to discover and punish ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... Nobody is forbidden to sell minerals without a licence; but everybody is forbidden to sell silver without a licence. When the law has forgotten some atrocious sin—for instance, contracting marriage whilst suffering from contagious disease—the magistrate cannot arrest or punish the wrongdoer, however he may abhor his wickedness. In short, no man is lawfully at the mercy of the magistrate's personal caprice, prejudice, ignorance, superstition, temper, stupidity, resentment, timidity, ambition, or private conviction. But a playwright's ...

— The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet • George Bernard Shaw

... had two peculiarities. First the text was examined carefully and so construed as to show that the author, whether Jesus, Peter, or Paul, taught the doctrine of universal salvation. Then came a process of reasoning designed to show that God could not punish his creatures in a lake of fire and brimstone. First, he was all-powerful; next, he was all-wise; then he was infinitely just, and finally his mercy was without limit. Could a being endowed with these attributes consign his children to unending misery? From the first I saw the defect in ...

— Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 1 • George Boutwell

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