agonyn.
/ˈaɡəni/, /ˈaɡn̩i/, U.S. /ˈæɡəni/ I. Senses with emphasis on feeling.
1. Christian Church. In singular and plural. The mental struggle or anguish of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 36–46).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > [noun]
tintreghc893
threat971
piningOE
murderOE
anguish?c1225
woea1250
pinec1275
tormentc1290
languorc1300
heartbreakc1330
surcarkingc1330
martyrement1340
threst1340
agonyc1384
martyrdomc1384
tormentryc1386
martyre?a1400
tormentisec1405
rack?a1425
anguishing1433
angorc1450
anguishnessa1475
torture?c1550
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butchery1582
heartache1587
anguishment1592
living hell1596
discruciation1597
heart-aching1607
throeing1615
rigour1632
crucifixion1648
lancination1649
bosom-hell1674
heart-rending1707
brain-racking1708
tormentation1789
bosom-throe1827
angoisse1910
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > biblical events > [noun] > Gethsemane
agonyc1384
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xxii. 43 And he maad in agonye, ether angwische, preiede lengere [L. Et factus in agonia, prolixius orabat].
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Luke xxii. f. cxiijv He was in agony.
1557 Bible (Whittingham) Luke xxii. 43 And being in an agonie, he prayed more earnestly.
1650 Bp. J. Taylor Rule & Exercises Holy Living i. 58 Meditate on the agonies of Christ in the garden, his sadnesse and affliction all that night.
1761 Relig. in True Light 127 Strength in his Agony to Christ was giv'n.
1809 E. Blomfield Life Jesus Christ xiv. 345 Jesus was pouring forth his soul in the most bitter agonies in the garden.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 92 As cried Christ ere His agony.
1912 W. A. Candler Wesley & his Work iv. 93 It can in the same night stoop to wash the feet of peasants, dare the agonies of Gethsemane, or endure the indignities of Pilate's judgment hall without humiliation, fear, or despair.
1968 E. F. Harrison Short Life Christ xiii. 195 He had wept over the holy city. Yet there is no suggestion at that time..that he gave way to any such agony as befell him in the garden.
2003 R. Taylor How to read Church 70 The word ‘Agony’ in ‘the Agony in the Garden’ can be thought of in terms of its root in the Greek word agon, a contest.
2. Anguish of mind, great mental trouble or distress. Also: an instance of this, a paroxysm of grief.
ΚΠ
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Miller's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 266 This man is falle..In som woodnesse, or in som Agonye.
c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 525 Ethelstan... For wach and trouble lay in an agonye, Devoutly knelyng by his beddys syde.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. cxvii. f. liiii Fredegunda..sore was abasshed, and in great fere and agony.
1563 A. Golding tr. L. Bruni Hist. Warres Imperialles & Gothes iii. x. f. 125 The Romaynes..were in suche an agonie that they wyst not what to doe nor whyche way to turne them.
1611 Bible (King James) 2 Macc. iii. 14 There was no small agonie throughout the whole citie. View more context for this quotation
1720 Hist. Life & Adventures D. Campbell viii. 294 The Ladies laugh'd incontinently, imagining that he was in an Agony of Shame and Confusion.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. xix. 130 He sunk under the charge, in an agony of confusion and despair.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality ix, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 174 She could discover by his short-drawn sobs that it was a paroxysm of mental agony.
1863 J. H. Burton Book-hunter (ed. 2) 40 It was agony to him to hear the beggar's cry of distress.
1903 F. A. Hyett Florence xviii. 379 Lorenzo, in an agony of remorse, had sent for Savonarola, saying, ‘I know no true friar but him.’
1942 E. Langley Pea Pickers xxviii. 388 The agony of my grief numbs me and makes me slow and stupid with tears.
1971 P. Firchow tr. F. Schlegel Lucinde 98 She confessed to him—but not without severe emotional agony—that she had been the mother of a lovely boy who had died soon after birth.
2006 P. Carey Theft (2007) liii. 257 Forgive me Lord Jesus, it was agony to hear her suffer.
3. Extreme bodily suffering, often such as to produce writhing or throes of the body; severe pain. Also: an instance of this. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [noun] > anguish or torment
piningOE
anguishc1225
pinsing?c1225
tormentc1290
afflictiona1382
martyrdomc1384
tormentryc1386
labourc1390
martyryc1390
throea1393
martyre?a1400
cruelty14..
rack?a1425
hacheec1430
prong1440
agonya1450
ragea1450
pang1482
sowing1487
cruciation1496
afflict?1529
torture?c1550
pincha1566
anguishment1592
discruciament1593
excruciation1618
fellness1642
afflictedness1646
pungency1649
perialgia1848
perialgy1857
racking1896
a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) l. 5291 (MED) Fraunce..swich is þine agonye, Thi self manaseth þi self for to dye.
c1525 J. Rastell New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. Ci He hath be in this agony this .viii. days.
1547 T. Cranmer Certayne Serm. sig. O.iv Sickenesses, and paynfull diseases, whiche be moste strong pangues and agonies in the fleshe.
1599 A. Hume Poems (1902) 107 The trouble of the spirit wil oftimes..trouble the whole estate of man: as though he were takin with sum agonie or sharp fevar.
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster West-ward Hoe v. sig. G4 O quickly, quickly, shees sicke and taken with an Agony.
1685 J. Graile Three Serm. Norwich iii. 95 O the sudden Convulsions, surprizing Paroxysms, insupportable Agonies of the Body Politick.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 172 The Agony the poor Woman was in.
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles iv. xxvii. 164 Thou heard'st a wretched female plain In agony of travail-pain.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Boadicea 84 Ran the land with Roman slaughter, multitudinous agonies.
1915 Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Jan. 22/2 A horse may..suddenly collapse, struggle in agony for perhaps half an hour, and then pass out.
1970 Bull. Atomic Scientists Feb. 2/1 The intellectual agony of Prague and the physical agony of Biafra continue with no sign of relief.
2002 N. Tosches In Hand of Dante 72 The bottom-lying stonefish with its dorsal fin of thirteen poisonous spines that bring instant and crippling agony.
4. The convulsive throes or pangs of death; the death struggle. Usually with adjective or of indicating the circumstance. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.See also death agony at death n. Compounds 1a(a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [noun] > death throes
throwingeOE
death throec1300
throec1300
stour1340
bale-stourc1400
gasping1440
agonya1500
(one's) last gasp1564
death flurry1831
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [noun] > anguish or torment > pang(s) of death
agonya1500
pincha1566
a1500 Craft of Dying (Rawl.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 407 (MED) In the agony or stryfe of his deth.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xiv. 95 Quhen darius vas in the agonya and deitht thrau.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 844 Mirth cannot moue a soule in agonie . View more context for this quotation
1665 Meanes of preventing Plague 19 (heading) A Prayer for a dying person, in, or near the Agonies of Death.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 309 All of the sudden she fell into the agony of death.
1754 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 540/1 Omar..had given him the signet, as all the reparation he could make for his crime, when he was repenting in the agony of death.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 800/1 The death-struggle, or agony.
1863 J. F. Kirk Hist. Charles the Bold I. i. i. 25 It seemed..as if this were the final agony of the nation, as if the hour of its dissolution were at hand.
a1900 E. G. Porter Disc. Columbia River in Old South Leaflets (1902) No. 131. 6 He..staggered toward his friends, but received a flight of arrows in his back, and fell in mortal agony.
1921 G. M. Price Poisoning Democracy viii. 157 Those who would seek to prolong the present dying agonies of a doomed world.
1962 A. MacLean Satan Bug iii. 36 The lips strained cruelly back over clenched teeth in the appalling rictus of his dying agony.
1992 T. Davies Modest Pageant 165 Jesus Mary and Joseph assist me in my last agony.
5. In extended and weakened senses.
a. Misery or suffering, of various degrees of severity; mental discomfort; an experience of this; the action or an act of agonizing over something. Also (slang, originally Theatre): exaggeration of feeling; affectation of manner or behaviour.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > misery > [noun]
unselthc888
ermtheOE
unselea1023
wellawayOE
wretchhead1154
wandrethc1175
woec1175
wanea1200
wretchdom?c1225
yomernessc1250
balec1275
un-i-selec1275
wan-siðc1275
unseelinessa1300
wretchedheada1300
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wretcheddomc1320
wrechea1325
wretchnessa1330
tribulationc1330
wretchednessa1340
caitifty1340
meeknessa1382
unwealsomeness1382
infelicityc1384
caitifhedea1400
ill liking?a1400
sorea1400
ungleea1400
unweala1400
caitifnessc1400
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caitifdoma1500
woefulnessa1513
misery1527
miserity1533
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unwealfulnessa1555
tribulance1575
miserableness1613
agony1621
desolatenessa1626
unblissa1628
unhappiness1722
misère1791
shadow1855
valley1882
miz1918
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 375 I was in an Agony to see it, my bloud rise, and all my senses were sensible but of disorder.
1643 Mercurius Brit. No. 10. 76 This Rosa Solis of Intelligence to comfort them in their agony of ill news.
1797 Sporting Mag. Dec. 154/1 A woman of fashion, after losing her money, has sat writhing in all the agonies of bad luck.
1837 J. C. Neal Charcoal Sketches 124 He must commence the play hawfully, and keep piling on the hagony till the close.
1839 F. Marryat Diary in Amer. II. 235 I do think he piled the agony up a little too high in that last scene.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 23 Oct. (1956) IV. 111 We shall soon be in the agonies of moving.
1895 Argosy Dec. 227/1 It will spare us the agony of suspense.
1921 U. Sinclair Bk. of Life ii. xxvii. 186 To me it was always an agony of boredom to lie on a bed and wiggle my abdomen for a quarter of an hour.
1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song 37 Then up he'd get on the platform, the doitered old fool, and recite Weeeee, sss-leek-ed, ccccccowering timrous beastie or such-like poem and it was fair agony to hear him.
1953 M. Irwin Elizabeth & Prince of Spain xx. 201 She could sit still no longer, all her nerves were jangled in an agony of indecision.
1988 J. Trollope Choir v. 79 Speech Day was approaching, and the thrice annual agony of reports.
2008 C. Tiernan On Back of Other Side xxxii. 493 ‘Ascot! We shan't have to go to Ascot and tramp around watching silly old horse races!’ Maud was piling on the agony for Mamma.
b. With adjective or of indicating the sensation or emotion: intense pleasure bordering on pain; an instance of this, a paroxysm of such pleasure.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > sensuous pleasure > [noun] > intensity or paroxysm of pleasure
agony1642
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. A7v Which in their sprights, may cause sweet agony, And thrill their bodies through with pleasing dart.
1668 Bp. E. Hopkins Vanity of World 102 The soul..reaches after God, and falls into an agony of Joy and desire inconceivably mixt together.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. x. 492 With cries and agonies of wild delight.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xviii. x. 312 The first Agonies of Joy which were felt on both Sides, are indeed beyond my Power to describe. View more context for this quotation
1814 S. E. Brydges Occas. Poems 3 Raise thy young hopes to agony of joy, Then hell-like laugh, as their cold blights destroy!
1877 M. Oliphant Makers of Florence (ed. 2) v. 138 He struck the marble in an agony of pleasure and content, bidding it ‘Speak!’
1919 Los Angeles School Jrnl. 8 Sept. 18 You will experience all those exquisite agonies that go with immortalizing one's self in print. The cerebration involved is truly exhilarating.
1961 H. Swados Nights in Gardens of Brooklyn (1970) 111 He squirmed about in a slow agony of pleasure.
2003 D. Gilb Gritos Introd. p. xv A grito is most known when mariachis sing, that loud, extemporaneous howl of triumph, or the sad—and loud, it has to be loud—lament of love lost, the orgasmic agony of love found.
c. Chiefly poetic. A thing in agony; something resulting from or expressive of agony; a scene of agony.
ΚΠ
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee 202 The first draft or original agony of the wail ‘In the Sweet Bye and Bye’.
a1918 W. Owen Coll. Poems (1963) 48 Watching, we hear the mad gusts on the wire, Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
1924 R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin ii. 25 The mountains frown, Locked in their tetanous agonies of stone.
1932 W. B. Yeats Words for Music 2 Dying into a dance, An agony of trance, An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.
1961 A. S. Downer Recent Amer. Drama (1964) 12 The Job scenes..were directed as a kind of baroque agony, with characters writhing on the floor and careening about on hands and knees.
II. Senses with emphasis on action (though usually with overtones of branch I.).
6. A struggle, a contest.
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society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > [noun] > an act or instance of
flitec1000
strifea1225
wara1300
pulla1400
lakec1420
contenta1450
stour?c1450
contentiona1500
pingle1543
agony1555
feudc1565
combat1567
skirmish1576
grapple1604
counter-scuffle1628
scuffle1641
agon1649
tug1660
tug of war1677
risse1684
struggle1692
palaver1707
hash1789
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scrabble1794
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go1823
bucklea1849
wrestle1850
tussle1857
head-to-head1884
scrum1905
battleground1931
shoot-out1953
mud-wrestle1986
1555 E. Bonner Profitable & Necessarye Doctryne sig. Ee.iiv Such as..haue been by penaunce restored agayne to ye sayde grace, and therevpon by thys sacramente are strenghethened and conforted in theyr agonye and fight agaynste the deuyll.
1560 J. Knox Answer Great Nomber Blasphemous Cauillations 301 The agonye & battel which he susteined, fighting as it were against gods iudgementes.
1660 E. Waterhouse Disc. Arms & Armory 103 The Greeks in their..athletary agonies.
1769 S. Hopkins True State of Unregenerate i. vii. 89 He calls the latter the good fight, to distinguish it from that fight or agony which the word originally signified.
1833 T. De Quincey Cæsars in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 51/2 He was most truly in an agony, according to the original meaning of that word; for the conflict was great between two master principles of his nature.
1865 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia V. xviii. ii. 38 Which lasted..above three hours; and was the crisis, or essential agony, of the Battle.
1893 R. M. Hughes Gen. Johnston App. 319 All noble strength partakes of the wrestler's agony.
2005 J. K. Olick In House of Hangman i. 21 The numerous debates..about the meaning of National Socialism for German identity, it seems to me, formed a series of agonies—in the classical sense of struggles—within and constituting a wider arena of political culture and collective memory.
Phrases
P1. transitive. to prolong the (also one's) agony [after French prolonger son agonie (1708 or earlier), prolonger l'agonie (1716 or earlier), etc.] : to protract an uncomfortable situation or experience, esp. knowingly and needlessly; to keep in suspense.
ΚΠ
1786 tr. Marquis de Langle Sentimental Journey through Spain I. 45 When a felon is sentenced..it is shameful to prolong his agony [Fr. il est odieux de prolonger son agonie].
1846 tr. A. Dumas Count of Monte-Cristo II. li. 382 Count, you prolong my agony [Fr. Comte, vous prolongez mon agonie].
1917 N.Y. Times Current Hist.: European War 10 131 To prolong the agony all round, they [sc. German soliders in occupied France] worked by districts—never saying on which night each district would be taken.
1956 M. Dickens Angel in Corner viii. 115 He's finished what he came to do over here, and he has to get back... So don't think you can prolong the agony that way.
1986 N.Y. Post 9 July 46 I won't prolong the agony. All except Gary Shilling got it awfully wrong.
1995 B. Obama Dreams from my Father (2004) ix. 169 The corporation was preparing to get out of the steelmaking business, he said, and wage concessions would only prolong the agony.
P2. to pile on the agony: see pile v.2 4b.
Compounds
agony aunt n. chiefly British an editor (actually or supposedly female) of an agony column (agony column n. (b)); (in extended use) an adviser on personal, psychological, etc., problems.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journalist > [noun] > sentimental or advice writer
sob sister1912
Lonelyhearts1933
Miss Lonelyhearts1933
agony aunt1974
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > advice > [noun] > adviser or counsellor > as an occupation
adviser1877
counsellor1940
genetic counsellor1952
agony auntie1972
agony aunt1974
1974 Guardian 19 Sept. 13/2 High on the list of the society's bêtes noires is the teenage magazine Petticoat and its agony aunt, Claire Rayner.
1984 S. Townsend Growing Pains Adrian Mole 19 I can't go on like this. I have written to Auntie Clara, the Agony Aunt.
2010 Daily Tel. 8 June 21/2 In her one-woman show, agony aunt Virginia Ironside says grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your children.
agony auntie n. chiefly British = agony aunt n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > advice > [noun] > adviser or counsellor > as an occupation
adviser1877
counsellor1940
genetic counsellor1952
agony auntie1972
agony aunt1974
1972 Times 27 Apr. 3/1 Pleas for help from young and old made to 'agony aunties' of magazines and newspapers, show that our established welfare institutions often fail to meet a personal, intimate human need.
1979 R. Kent Aunt Agony Advises xii. 265 Perhaps a university should start an agony auntie course.
2008 S. Taylor Dear Rita xx. 232 Look, babe, let me be the agony auntie for a change, 'cause you're not doing such a good job of advising yourself.
agony column n. (a) a column of a newspaper that contains personal advertisements, esp. for missing relatives or friends or for new relationships; cf. personal column n. at personal adj., n., and adv. Compounds; (b) a regular newspaper or magazine feature containing readers' questions about personal difficulties, with replies from the columnist; cf. problem page n. at problem n. Compounds 1c.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > parts and layout of journals > [noun] > specific columns > for adverts, e.g. about missing people
agony column1854
society > communication > journalism > journal > parts and layout of journals > [noun] > specific columns > for readers' questions about problems
agony column1854
advice column1864
1854 Courier 28 Mar. 50/3 In time,..it would be as much sought after, and as eagerly read, as the 'agony column' of the Times.
1881 W. Black Beautiful Wretch III. xxiii. 8 There was a clamour of contention and advice among guardians and friends; there were anonymous appeals to the runaways in agony-columns.
1928 G. H. Danton Germany Ten Years After (1971) vi. 269 The pruriency and lubricity of the advertisements probably sell the magazine to the sex-starved, of whom, judging from the ‘agony columns’ of the journals, Germany has its full quota.
1975 P. Makins Evelyn Home Story xiv. 158 The actual writing style of agony columns has changed quite noticeably over the years.
1997 Sunday Times 26 Oct. (News Review section) 6/3 The received wisdom, recounted ad nauseam in the agony columns of magazines and the annals of social research, is that divorce is cruel to children.
agony uncle n. an editor (actually or supposedly male) of an agony column (agony column n. (b)); also in extended use; cf. agony aunt n.
ΚΠ
1981 Times 14 Dec. 6/4 (heading) Phillip Hodson: letters to an agony uncle.
1991 Gay Times Mar. 98/1 Worried about promiscuity? Concerned about a domestic situation? Write to GT's Agony Uncle.
2006 L. Newbery Catcall (2008) 111 It was a bit much, having to be Floss's agony uncle. I'd got enough problems of my own.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.c1384