noun to compel by pain or suffering.
2. distress ·noun to seize for debt; to distrain.
3. distress ·noun the thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
4. distress ·noun that which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery.
5. distress ·noun a state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, ·etc.
6. distress ·noun extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind; as, to suffer distress from the gout, or from the loss of friends.
7. distress ·noun to cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable.
8. distress ·noun 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.