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Webster 1913 Edition

Distress

Dis-tress′

,
Noun.
[OE.
destresse
,
distresse
, OF.
destresse
,
destrece
, F.
détresse
, OF.
destrecier
to distress, (assumed) LL.
districtiare
, fr. L.
districtus
, p. p. of
distringere
. See
Distrain
, and cf.
Stress
.]
1.
Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind;
as, to suffer
distress
from the gout, or from the loss of friends
.
Not fearing death nor shrinking for
distress
.
Shakespeare
2.
That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery.
Affliction’s sons are brothers in
distress
.
Burns.
3.
A state of danger or necessity;
as, a ship in
distress
, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, etc.
4.
(Law)
(a)
The act of distraining; the taking of a personal chattel out of the possession of a wrongdoer, by way of pledge for redress of an injury, or for the performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc.
(b)
The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
Bouvier.
Kent.
Burrill.
If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a
distress
of goods and cattle.
Spenser.
The
distress
thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.
Blackstone.
Syn. – Affliction; suffering; pain; agony; misery; torment; anguish; grief; sorrow; calamity; misfortune; trouble; adversity. See
Affliction
.

Dis-tress′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Distressed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Distressing
.]
[Cf. OF.
destrecier
. See
Distress
,
Noun.
]
1.
To cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable.
We are troubled on every side, yet not
distressed
.
2 Cor. iv. 8.
2.
To compel by pain or suffering.
Men who can neither be
distressed
nor won into a sacrifice of duty.
A. Hamilton.
Syn. – To pain; grieve; harass; trouble; perplex; afflict; worry; annoy.

Webster 1828 Edition

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, &c.
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.
5.
A state of danger; as a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, or want of provisions or water, &c.

DISTRESS

,
Verb.
T.
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.
We are troubled on every side, but not distressed. 2 Corinthians 4.
3.
To compel by pain or suffering.
There are men who can neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of duty.

Definition 2024

distress

distress

English

Noun

distress ‎(uncountable)

  1. (Cause of) discomfort.
    • 1833, John Trusler, chapter 8, in The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings:
      To heighten his distress, he is approached by his wife, and bitterly upbraided for his perfidy in concealing from her his former connexions (with that unhappy girl who is here present with her child, the innocent offspring of her amours, fainting at the sight of his misfortunes, being unable to relieve him farther), and plunging her into those difficulties she never shall be able to surmount.
  2. Serious danger.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, chapter 13, in Robinson Crusoe:
      I immediately considered that this must be some ship in distress, and that they had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired these gun for signals of distress, and to obtain help.
    • 1759, Voltaire, chapter 42, in Candide:
      At length they perceived a little cottage; two persons in the decline of life dwelt in this desert, who were always ready to give every assistance in their power to their fellow-creatures in distress.
  3. (law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
  4. (law) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
    • Spenser
      If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle.
    • Blackstone
      The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.

Related terms

Translations

Verb

distress ‎(third-person singular simple present distresses, present participle distressing, simple past and past participle distressed)

  1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
    • 1827, Stendhal, chapter 31, in Armance:
      She respects me, no doubt, but has no longer any passionate feeling for me, and my death will distress her without plunging her in despair.
  2. (law) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
    • 1894, James Kent; William Hardcastle Browne, Commentaries on American Law, page 645:
      This power of distress, as anciently used, became as oppressive as the feudal forfeiture. It was as hard for the tenant to be stripped in an instant of all his goods, for arrears of rent, as to be turned out of the possession of his farm.
  3. To treat an object, such as an antique, to give it an appearance of age.
    She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French destrecier ‎(“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”) (French: détresse), from Medieval Latin as if *districtiare, an assumed frequentive form of Latin distringere ‎(“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- ‎(“apart”) + stringere ‎(“to draw tight, strain”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈstɹɛs/
  • Rhymes: -ɛs

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