pen1tentiary (ti as sh), penytensary

& s. [Fr. pénitentiaire; Sp. peni ten cia rio; Ital. penitenziario, penitenziere.] *A. As adjective : 1. Pertaining or relating to penance, or its rules and degrees. 2. Expre ive of penitence or repentance; penitent; as, a penitentiary letter. 3. Used for purposes of punishment and reformation. "In forming the plan of these penitentiary houses, the principal objects have been to preserve and amend the health of the unhappy offenders, to enure them to habits of industry, to guard them from pernicious company, to accustom them to serious reflection, and to teach them both the principles and practice of every Christian and moral duty." -Black stone: Comment., bk. iv., ch. 28. IMG:content-0845.png:[blocks in formation] Christ's Se ion, bk. ii., ch. xlii. 2. A house of correction for criminals. "They slip into crime, and become the tenants of prisons and penitentiaries ." -Scribner's Magazine , March, 1880, p. 785. The first is said to have been established by the Quakers in 1786. 3. An institution for the reception and reformation of prostitutes. [MAGDALEN-HOSPITAL.] II. Ecclesiastical : 1. One of the offices of the Roman Curia, taking special cognizance of matters relating to the confe ional, and dispensations from such impediments to marriage as are not diriment. 2. The dignitary who presides over the office de scribed above. He is a cardinal priest, and must be a doctor of theology or canon law. 3. A canon penitentiary [1]. universities. It was abolished at the close of the seventeenth century. pen-nant, subst . [Formed from pennon by the addition of t , as in ancient, tyrant, .] [PENNON.] Naut.: A small flag; a pennon, a pendant; spec if., a long narrow streamer borne at the mast-head of a ship-of-war. They are of two kinds, the long pen nant and the broad pennant .