Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PIT'Y, n. [Fr. pitié; It. pietà, pity and piety; Sp. pietad, pity and piety; Port. piedade, id. The Latin, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages unite pity and piety in the same word, and the word may be from the root of compassion; L. patior, to suffer; It. compatire, Sp. and Port. compadecerse, to pity.]

1. The feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion or fellow-suffering. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord. – Prov. xix. In Scripture, however, the word pity usually includes compassion accompanied with some act of charity or benevolence, and not simply a fellow feeling of distress. Pity is always painful, yet always agreeable. – Kames.
2. The ground or subject of pity; cause of grief; thing to be regretted. What pity is it / That we can die but once to serve our country! – Addison. That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it. – Shak. In this sense the word has a plural. It is a thousand pities he should waste his estate in prodigality.