agony

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

AG'ONY, noun [Gr. a contest with bodily exertion; a word used to denote the athletic games, in Greece; whence anguish, solicitude; from Latin ago. Gr. to strive. See Act.] 1. In strictness, pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body, similar to those made in the athletic contests in Greece. Hence, 2. Extreme pain of body or mind; anguish; appropriately, the pangs of death, and the sufferings of our Savior in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:44. 3. Violent contest or striving.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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