Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Penalty

Pe′nal·ty (pĕn′al·ty̆), n.; pl. Penalties (#). [F. pénalité. See Penal.] 1. Penal retribution; punishment for crime or offense; the suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense, or trespass.

Death is the penalty imposed. Milton.

2. The suffering, or the sum to be forfeited, to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of nonfulfillment of stipulations; forfeiture; fine.

The penalty and forfeit of my bond. Shak.

3. A handicap. [Sporting Cant]

☞ The term penalty is in law mostly applied to a pecuniary punishment.

Bill of pains and penalties. See under Bill. — On, or Under, penalty of, on pain of; with exposure to the penalty of, in case of transgression.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.