distress

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To cause strain, anxiety, or suffering to. See Synonyms at trouble.
2. v. Law To hold the property of (a person) against the payment of debts.
3. v. To mar or otherwise treat (an object or fabric, for example) to give the appearance of an antique or of heavy prior use: "There are the fakes—new rugs which have been intentionally distressed for an older look” ( Hatfield MA Valley Advocate).
4. v. Archaic To constrain or overcome by harassment.
5. n. Anxiety or mental suffering.
6. n. Severe strain resulting from exhaustion or an accident.
7. n. Acute physical discomfort.
8. n. Physical deterioration, as of a highway, caused by hard use over time: pavement distress.
9. n. The condition of being in need of immediate assistance: a motorist in distress.
10. n. Law The act of distraining or seizing to compel payment.
11. n. Law The goods thus seized.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To constrain or compel by pain, suffering, or force of circumstances.
2. To afflict with pain, physical or mental; oppress or crush with suffering, misfortune, or calamity; make miserable.
3. In law, to seize for debt; distrain. See distrain, 6. Synonyms Trouble, Harass, etc. See afflict.
4. n. Constraint; restraint; forcible control; oppression.
5. n. Compulsion; requirement.
6. n. Pain or suffering of body or mind; great pain, anxiety, or grief.
7. n. In general, a state of suffering or trouble; calamity; adversity; affliction; misery arising from want or misfortune.
8. n. In law : The act of distraining. See distrain, 6.
9. n. The common-law remedy by distraining.
10. n. The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
11. n. In old Scots law, a pledge taken by the sheriff from those who came to fairs or markets for their good behavior, which at their close was delivered back if no harm had been done.
12. n. Synonyms Grief, Sorrow, etc. See affliction.
13. n. Hardship, straits, perplexity.

Wiktionary

1. n. discomfort.
2. n. Serious danger.
3. n. law A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
4. v. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
5. v. law To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
6. v. To treat an object, such as an antique, to give it an appearance of age.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind.
2. n. That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery.
3. n. A state of danger or necessity
4. n. 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.
5. n. The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
6. v. To cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable.
7. v. To compel by pain or suffering.
8. v. (Law) To seize for debt; to distrain.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. extreme physical pain
2. v. cause mental pain to
3. v. bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial hardship
4. n. psychological suffering
5. n. the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim
6. n. a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need)