Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAIN'FUL, a.

1. Giving pain, uneasiness or distress to the body; as, a painful operation in surgery.
2. Giving pain to the mind; afflictive; disquieting; distressing. Evils have been more painful to us in the prospect, than in the actual pressure. – Addison.
3. Full of pain; producing misery or affliction. – Milton.
4. Requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with laborious effort; as, a painful service. The army had a painful march.
5. Laborious; exercising labor; undergoing toil; industrious. Nor must the painful husbandman be tired. – Dryden.