See Also: penal(dictionary)
Penal Law(law)
PENAL(law)
LAW, PENAL(law)
penal(dictionary)
penal code(dictionary)
PENAL STATUTES(law)
penal colony(encyclopedia)
Penal Notice(law)
BILL PENAL, contracts(law)

penal (iou)



penal adjective & noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French penal or Latin penalis, poen-, from poena PAIN noun1: see -AL1.]
A. adjective.
a. Having as its object the infliction of punishment, punitive; prescribing the punishment to be inflicted for an offence. LME.
H. J. Stephen Penal provisions intended for the better preservation of game. Independent Mandatory life sentences for murder would be abolished..under changes in penal law.
b. Of an act or offence: liable to punishment; punishable, esp. by law. L15.
c. Constituting punishment; inflicted as punishment; (of a sum of money) payable as a penalty or fine. E17.
penal servitude Hist. (a) imprisonment with hard labour; (b) transportation.
d. Involving, pertaining to, or characterized by (a) legal punishment. M17.
e. Used or appointed as a place of punishment. M19.
New York Review of Books Several conducted tours of the penal colony on Buru Islands.
Extremely severe, esp. in the way of punishment. Now usu. of taxation etc. LME.
Spectator We have had to struggle with..a penal Bank rate.
b. noun. (A sentence or period of) imprisonment. Also, a school punishment. slang. M19.
penally adverb (a) severely, painfully; (b) by way of punishment: LME.