pains

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pain.

   The pains in her joints kept her awake most of the night.

   Sharp pains shot through his chest as he climbed the stairs.

   Note

   Counted aches rather than suffering in general: uncountable pain names distress as a condition, while the plural marks separate instances or places, such as pains in the joints or chest pains. The pangs of childbirth are the one meaning that normally prefers the plural: her pains began at dawn. Keep it apart from the "careful effort" noun, which has no singular and travels with take or go to.

2. 2
   nounplural

   Careful effort or trouble taken to do something thoroughly and well.

   Like a craftsman who sands every edge smooth before anyone will ever see it.

   She took great pains to make sure every guest felt welcome.

   The editor went to enormous pains to get every detail right.

   Similartrouble, care, effort, lengths

   Note

   A plural with no singular behind it: nobody takes a pain over a task. It lives almost entirely inside verb phrases such as take pains, go to great pains and be at pains to. It is treated as a mass of effort rather than a count of aches, which is why Anna Sewell's Black Beauty (1877) can say Jerry "took as much pains" over the harness, with much rather than many.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of pain.

   It pains me to leave the party so soon.

   Her absence still pains the whole family.

   Note

   This verb form shares its spelling with the plural of aches but behaves quite differently. In general use it is transitive and usually emotional, as in it pains me to say or the news pains her. The sufferer is the object, often after an impersonal it. Indian English also lets it stand alone, as hurts does, so my knee pains means the knee hurts.

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