distress

DISTRESS, noun [See Stress.] 1. The act of distraining; the taking of any personal chattel from a wrong-doer, to answer a demand, or procure satisfaction for a wrong committed. 2. The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction. A distress of household goods shall be impounded under cover. If the lessor does not find sufficient distress on the premises, etc. 3. Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; as, to suffer great distress from the gout, or from the loss of near friends. 4. Affliction; calamity; misery. On earth distress of nations. Luke 21:23. 5. A state of danger; as a ship in distress from leaking, loss of spars, or want of provisions or water, etc. DISTRESS, verb transitive 1. To pain; to afflict with pain or anguish; applied to the body or the mind. [Literally, to press or strain.] 2. To afflict greatly; to harass; to oppress with calamity; to make miserable. DISTRESS not the Moabites. Deuteronomy 2:9. We are troubled on every side, but not distressed. 2 Corinthians 4:8. 3. To compel by pain or suffering. There are men who can neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of duty.