Emily Dickinson Lexicon

A-TONE'MENT, n.

1. Agreement; concord; reconciliation, after enmity or controversy. – Rom. v. He seeks to make atonement Between the Duke of Glo'ster and your brothers. – Shak.
2. Expiation; satisfaction or reparation made by giving an equivalent for an injury, or by doing or suffering that which is received in satisfaction for an offense or injury; with for. And Moses said to Aaron, Go to the altar, and offer thy sin-offering, and thy burnt-offering, and make an atonement for thyself and for the people. – Lev. ix. When a man has been guilty of any vice, the best atonement he can make for it is, to warn others not to fall into the like. – Spect. No. 8. The Phocians behaved with so much gallantry, that they were thought to have made a sufficient atonement for their former offense. – Potter, Antiq.
3. In theology, the expiation of sin made by the obedience and personal sufferings of Christ.