Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-PEN-SA'TION, n.

1. That which is given or received as an equivalent for services, debt, want, loss, or suffering; amends; remuneration; recompense. All other debts may compensation find. – Dryden. The pleasures of life are no compensation for the loss of divine favor and protection.
2. That which supplies the place of something else, or makes good a deficiency. – Paley.
3. In law, a set-off; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount.