Pain (?), n. [OE. peine, F. peine, fr. L. poena, penalty, punishment,
torment, pain; akin to Gr. &?; penalty. Cf. Penal, Pine to languish,
Punish.] 1. Punishment suffered or denounced; suffering or evil
inflicted as a punishment for crime, or connected with the commission
of a crime; penalty. Chaucer.
We will, by way of mulct or pain, lay it upon him.
Bacon.
Interpose, on pain of my displeasure.
Dryden.
None shall presume to fly, under pain of death.
Addison.
2. Any uneasy sensation in animal bodies, from slight uneasiness to
extreme distress or torture, proceeding from a derangement of
functions, disease, or injury by violence; bodily distress; bodily
suffering; an ache; a smart. "The pain of Jesus Christ." Chaucer.
Pain may occur in any part of the body where sensory nerves are
distributed, and it is always due to some kind of stimulation of them.
The sensation is generally referred to the peripheral end of the nerve.