Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - misery

~ n 1 great suffering or discomfort, caused for example by being very poor or very sick  (the awful shanty-towns, so full of human misery) + of  (The cold increased the misery of the retreating army.) 2 great unhappiness  (Her face was a picture of misery.) 3 make sb's life a misery to cause so much trouble for someone that they cannot enjoy their life  (Competitive mothers can make their daughters' lives a misery.) 4 put sth/sb out of their misery a) informal to make someone stop feeling worried, especially by telling them something they are waiting to hear  (Go on, put them out of their misery and announce the winner.) b) to kill an animal in order to end its suffering 5 BrE spoken someone who is always complaining and never enjoys anything  (Don't be such a misery. | misery guts (=a name for someone who is like this))  (You don't want to be like old misery guts over there.)