PUN'ISH, v.t. [L. punio, from the root of poena,pain. The primary sense is to press or strain.] 1. To pain; to afflict with pain, loss or calamity for a crime or fault; primarily, to afflict with bodily pain, as to punish a thief with pillory or stripes; but the word is applied also to affliction by loss of property, by transportation, banishment, seclusion from society, &c. The laws require murderers to be punished with death. Other offenders are to be punished with fines, imprisonment, hard labor,&c. God punishes men for their sins with calamities personal and national.2. To chastise; as, a father punishes his child for disobedience.3. To regard with pain or suffering inflicted on the offender; applied to the crime; as, to punish murder or theft.
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