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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Penance \Pen"ance\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penanced}.]
To impose penance; to punish. "Some penanced lady elf."
--Keats.
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Penance \Pen"ance\, n. [OF. penance, peneance, L. paenitentia
repentance. See {Penitence}.]
1. Repentance. [Obs.] --Wyclif (Luke xv. 7).
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2. Pain; sorrow; suffering. [Obs.] "Joy or penance he feeleth
none." --Chaucer.
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3. (Eccl.) A means of repairing a sin committed, and
obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the
performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary
submission to a punishment corresponding to the
transgression, imposed by a confessor or other
ecclesiastical authority. Penance is the fourth of seven
sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. --Schaff-Herzog
Encyc.
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And bitter penance, with an iron whip. --Spenser.
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Quoth he, "The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do." --Coleridge.
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4. Hence: Any act performed by a person to atone for an
offense to another; an act of atonement. [Colloq.]
[PJC]