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 19.
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.
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!
That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it.
In this sense, the word has a plural. It is a thousand pities he should waste his estate in prodigality.
PIT'Y, v.t. To feel pain or grief for one in distress; to have sympathy for; to compassionate; to have tender feelings for one, excited by his unhappiness.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Psa 103.
Taught by that power who pities me,\par I learn to pity them.
PIT'Y, v.i. To be compassionate; to exercise pity.
I will not pity nor spare,nor have mercy. Jer 13.
[But this may be considered as an elliptical phrase.]
