Obs. Also 3 uenie, 5 pl. venyse, veneis. [a. AF. venie (= OF. veine VEYNE), ad. L. venia indulgence, pardon, remission.] Pardon or forgiveness; a request for this; the gesture of kneeling or prostrating oneself as an indication of penitence and desire for pardon.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 46. Ȝif ȝe þurh ȝemeleaste gluffeð of wordes … nimeð ower uenie dun et ter eorðe mid te honden one. Ibid., 426. Ase ofte ase heo hit doð … makien hore uenie akneon adun to þer eorðe biuoren hire, & sigge ‘Mea culpa.’
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (Prose), 141. When sho comes whare the cuuent takis þare venyse, þan sall sho prostrate downe.
14[?]. in Maskell, Mon. Rit., II. 279. All other observance of the order as … Inclinacyons, veneis and prostracyons.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 33. And thanne y came and lay prostrate before hym, askyng my veny and rehersyd ageyne my Confiteor, etc.
