punish

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   impose a penalty on

   inflict punishment on

2. 2
   verb

   To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).

   If a prince violates the law, then he must be punished like an ordinary person.

3. 3
   verb

   To treat harshly and unfairly.

   But each effort that Anna makes —and she has attempted many— meets with obstacles from a welfare bureaucracy that punishes single mothers for initiative and partial economic self-sufficiency.

4. 4
   verb

   To consume a large quantity of.

   A few moments later, we were all sitting around the veranda of the hunters' dining hall, punishing the gin, as usual.

5. 5
   verb

   To handle or beat severely; to maul.

Etymology

From Middle English punischen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French puniss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of punir, from Latin puniō (“to inflict punishment upon”), from poena (“punishment, penalty”); see pain. Displaced Old English wītnian and (mostly, in this sense) wrecan.