PENITENTIARY

I. noun (plural -ries) Etymology: Middle English penitenciary, from Medieval Latin poenitentiarius, from poenitentia Date: 15th century 1. an officer in some Roman Catholic dioceses vested with power from the bishop to deal with cases of a nature normally handled only by the bishop, a cardinal presiding over a tribunal of the Roman curia concerned with dispensations and indulgences, a public institution in which offenders against the law are confined for detention or punishment, II. adjective Date: 1577 penitential , of, relating to, or incurring confinement in a ~