See Also: agony(medicine)
agony(dictionary)
agony(dictionary)
agony aunt(dictionary)
agony column(dictionary)

agony (iou)



agony noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French agonie or late Latin agonia from Greek agonia, formed as AGON: see -Y3.]
Extreme mental suffering; a paroxysm of grief or anguish. LME.
Coleridge Never a saint took pity on My soul in agony.
b. A paroxysm of pleasure. arch. E18.
Pope With cries and agonies of wild delight.
spec. The mental anguish of Jesus in Gethsemane. LME.
The convulsive throes or pangs of death. Exc. Medicine now rare without specification. LME.
death agony, last agony, mortal agony, etc.
Extreme bodily suffering; writhing or throes of the body produced by this. E17.
Milton Here in perpetual agony and pain. W. Owen We hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire, Like twitching agonies of men.
A severe struggle or contest. (Usu. with suggestion of sense 4.) L17.
Phrases: pile on the agony: see PILE verb2.
Comb.: agony aunt colloq. a female writer of an agony column (sense b); agony column (a) a personal column of a newspaper etc.; (b) a newspaper etc. feature of readers' questions about personal difficulties, with answers and advice; agony uncle colloq. a male writer of an agony column (sense b).