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upon pain of

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pain

[peyn]
–noun
1. physical suffering or distress, as due to injury, illness, etc.
2. a distressing sensation in a particular part of the body: a back pain.
3. mental or emotional suffering or torment: I am sorry my news causes you such pain.
4. pains,
a. laborious or careful efforts; assiduous care: Great pains have been taken to repair the engine perfectly.
b. the suffering of childbirth.
5. Informal. an annoying or troublesome person or thing.
–verb (used with object)
6. to cause physical pain to; hurt.
7. to cause (someone) mental or emotional pain; distress: Your sarcasm pained me.
–verb (used without object)
8. to have or give pain.
9. feel no pain, Informal. to be intoxicated: After all that free beer, we were feeling no pain.
10. on, upon, or under pain of, liable to the penalty of: on pain of death.
11. pain in the ass, Slang: Vulgar. pain (def. 5).
12. pain in the neck, Informal. pain (def. 5).

Origin:
1250–1300; ME peine punishment, torture, pain < OF < L poena penalty, pain < Gk poin penalty


1–3. torture, misery, torment. Pain, ache, agony, anguish are terms for sensations causing suffering or torment. Pain and ache usually refer to physical sensations (except heartache); agony and anguish may be physical or mental. Pain suggests a sudden sharp twinge: a pain in one's ankle. Ache applies to a continuous pain, whether acute or dull: headache; muscular aches. Agony implies a continuous, excruciating, scarcely endurable pain: in agony from a wound. Anguish suggests not only extreme and long-continued pain, but also a feeling of despair. 2. pang, twinge, stitch. 4a. See care. 7. afflict, torment; trouble, grieve.


3. joy, delight. 7. please.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
pain

  1. n.
    a bother; an irritating thing or person. : Those long meetings are a real pain.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

pain  (n.)
1297, "punishment," especially for a crime; also (c.1300) "condition one feels when hurt, opposite of pleasure," from O.Fr. peine, from L. poena "punishment, penalty" (in L.L. also "torment, hardship, suffering"), from Gk. poine "punishment," from PIE *kwei- "to pay, atone, compensate" (see penal). The earliest sense in Eng. survives in phrase on pain of death. The verb meaning "to inflict pain" is first recorded c.1300. Phrase to give (someone) a pain "be annoying and irritating" is from 1908; localized as pain in the neck (1924) and pain in the ass (1934), though this last may be the original, unrecorded sense and the others euphemisms. Pains "great care taken (for some purpose)" is first recorded 1528 (in the singular, in this sense, it is attested from c.1300); painstaking (adj.) is 1556 as paynes taking. First record of pain-killer is from 1853.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: pain
Function: noun
1 : PUNISHMENT
2 a : physical discomfort associated with bodily disorder (as disease or injury) b : acute mental or emotional suffering —pain·less adjectivepain·less·ly adverbon pain of or un·der pain of : subject to penalty or punishment of on pain of death>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2pain
Function: transitive verb
: to make suffer or cause distress to pain intransitive senses
: to give or have asensation of pain
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

pain (pān)
n.

  1. An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder.

  2. One of the uterine contractions occurring in childbirth.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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