[Fr. = ‘honourable compensation,’ (amende being the sing. of the word adopted in Eng. as AMENDS) orig. a public and humiliating acknowledgement of crime, now fig. as in Eng. Now usually treated as Fr., but in 18th c. as Eng. The word honorable is occas. omitted.]
Public apology and reparation such as to re-establish the injured or offended honor of one who has been wronged. Cf. honourable amends; AMENDS 2 b.
[1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. XII. 650. Honourable Satisfaction to his own Domesticks. (Side-note, Amende honorable signifies something more, but what cannot be intended by the Author in this place.)]
1703. De Foe, Ref. Mann., Pref. He promises to give Testimony to their Repentance, as an Amand Honourable in a manner as publick as possible.
1835. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), III. 165. And make the amende to any of his youthful kindred he may have terrified into unhappiness.
1859. Kingsley, Misc., I. 370. The ‘Edinburgh Review’ … made the amende honorable to Burns.
