Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Penitentiary

Pen′i·ten′tia·ry (·shȧ·ry̆), a. [Cf. F. pénitentiaire.] 1. Relating to penance, or to the rules and measures of penance. "A penitentiary tax." Abp. Bramhall.

2. Expressive of penitence; as, a penitentiary letter.

3. Used for punishment, discipline, and reformation. "Penitentiary houses." Blackstone.

Pen′i·ten′tia·ry, n.; pl. Penitentiaries (#). [Cf. F. pénitencier. See Penitent.] 1. One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. [Obs.] Bacon.

2. One who does penance. [Obs.] Hammond.

3. A small building in a monastery where penitents confessed. Shpiley.

4. That part of a church to which penitents were admitted. Shipley.

5. (R. C. Ch.) (a) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary, appointed by the pope. (b) An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.

6. A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they are generally compelled to labor.

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 “?”.