pain

pain

informal A particularly irritating or bothersome person or thing; a nuisance. Filing taxes is always such a pain. I wish I could afford to have someone else do it for me! Stop being a pain, Jeremy—you've been getting on my nerves all day!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

pain

n. a bother; an irritating thing or person. Those long meetings are a real pain.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See:
  • a pain in the neck
  • a royal pain
  • at pains
  • at pains to
  • at pains, be at
  • be a pain in the neck
  • be at pains
  • be at pains to do something
  • feel no pain
  • feel someone's pain, to
  • feeling no pain
  • for (one's) pains
  • for one's pains
  • for your pains
  • Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains
  • Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.
  • give (one) a pain
  • give a pain
  • give someone a pain
  • go to (great) pains to (do something)
  • growing pains
  • have growing pains
  • howl in pain
  • howl with pain
  • kiss the/(one's) pain away
  • manpain
  • no gain without pain
  • no pain, no gain
  • nothing ventured, nothing gained
  • on pain of
  • on pain of death
  • on/under pain of something
  • pain
  • pain and suffering
  • pain in the butt
  • pain in the hole
  • pain in the neck
  • pain in the neck, a
  • pain in the rear
  • pain-in-the-butt
  • pain-in-the-neck
  • pain-in-the-rear
  • racked with pain
  • royal pain
  • share (one's) pain
  • share pain
  • spare no expense/pains/trouble doing something
  • take (great) pains (to do something)
  • take (great) pains over (something)
  • take (great) pains with (something)
  • take pains
  • take pains over
  • take pains with
  • take pains with something/to do something
  • take pains, to
  • there is no pleasure without pain
  • under pain of
  • under pain of death
References in classic literature
And I tell you, pleasure and pain have nothing to do with heaven or hell.
Sympathetic pain,--all I know of it I remember as a thing I used to suffer from years ago.
Island of Doctor Moreau
In spite of his defiance his heart sunk when he saw Rose again, for the pain was worse, and the bath and blankets, the warming-pan and piping-hot sage tea, were all in vain.
Eight Cousins
Go therfore mighty powers, Terror of Heav'n, though fall'n; intend at home, While here shall be our home, what best may ease The present misery, and render Hell More tollerable; if there be cure or charm To respite or deceive, or slack the pain Of this ill Mansion: intermit no watch Against a wakeful Foe, while I abroad Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek Deliverance for us all: this enterprize None shall partake with me.
Paradise Lost
It had come to pass that his wound pained him but little.
Red Badge of Courage
And for some reason -- perhaps because Woggle-Bugs have stronger stomachs than boys -- the silver pellet caused it no pain whatever.
The Marvelous Land of Oz
Both the community of property and the community of families, as I am saying, tend to make them more truly guardians; they will not tear the city in pieces by differing about `mine' and `not mine;' each man dragging any acquisition which he has made into a separate house of his own, where he has a separate wife and children and private pleasures and pains; but all will be affected as far as may be by the same pleasures and pains because they are all of one opinion about what is near and dear to them, and therefore they all tend towards a common end.
Republic
There are memories, and affections, and longings after perfect goodness, that have such a strong hold on me; they would never quit me for long; they would come back and be pain to me--repentance.
The Mill on the Floss
As it was, it made me quite squeamish, though this nausea might have been due to the pain of my leg and exhaustion.
The Sea Wolf
Of course, the daily chant of ordinary pain of training went on all the time through the working hours, such as of "good" bears and lions and tigers that were made amenable under stress, and of elephants derricked and gaffed into making the head-stand or into the beating of a bass drum.
Michael Brother of Jerry
Wohlgemuth, "On the feelings and their neural correlate, with an examination of the nature of pain," "British Journal of Psychology," viii, 4.
The Analysis of Mind
One night when Beth looked among the books upon her table, to find something to make her forget the mortal weariness that was almost as hard to bear as pain, as she turned the leaves of her old favorite, Pilgrims's Progress, she found a little paper, scribbled over in Jo's hand.
Little Women
To all which his master said in reply, "I wish I had breath enough to speak somewhat easily, and that the pain I feel on this side would abate so as to let me explain to thee, Panza, the mistake thou makest.
Don Quixote
'Really, it's most provoking I canna put my hand to my side without your thinking I have a pain there.'
Margaret Ogilvy
Like a casque of scorching steel; And, though I was a soul in pain,
The Ballad of Reading Gaol