What does "distress" mean?
Distress: That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery. Affliction's sons are brothers in distress. Burns.
Additional senses
- 2.A state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, etc.
- 3.(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. Abuse of distress. (Law) See under Abuse. See Affliction.
- 4.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.
- 5.2. To compel by pain or suffering. Men who can neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of duty. A. Hamilton.
- 6.(Law) To seize for debt; to distrain.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00