The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Amends \A*mends"\, n. sing. & pl. [F. amendes, pl. of amende.
   Cf. Amende.]
   Compensation for a loss or injury; recompense; reparation.
   [Now const. with sing. verb.] "An honorable amends."
   --Addison.
   [1913 Webster]

         Yet thus far fortune maketh us amends.   --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

amends
    n 1: a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury
         [syn: damages, amends, indemnity, indemnification,
         restitution, redress]
    2: something done or paid in expiation of a wrong; "how can I
       make amends" [syn: reparation, amends]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

72 Moby Thesaurus words for "amends":
   atonement, balancing, blood money, commutation, compensate,
   compensation, composition, compromise, consideration, correction,
   counteraction, counterbalancing, damages, expiation,
   expiatory offering, fixing, guerdon, honorarium, indemnification,
   indemnity, lex talionis, make amends, make reparation,
   make restitution, making amends, making good, making right,
   making up, meed, mending, offsetting, overhaul, overhauling, pay,
   paying back, peace offering, piaculum, price, propitiation,
   quittance, reclamation, recompense, rectification, redemption,
   redress, refund, reimbursement, remedy, remuneration, repair,
   repairing, reparation, repay, repayment, reprisal, requital,
   requite, requitement, restitution, retaliation, retribution,
   return, revenge, reward, salvage, satisfaction, smart money,
   solatium, squaring, substitution, troubleshooting, wergild



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

AMENDS. A satisfaction, given by a wrong doer to the party injured for a
wrong committed. 1 Lilly's Reg. 81.
     2. By statute 24 Geo. II. c. 44, in England, and by similar statutes in
some of the United States, justices of the peace, upon being notified of an
intended suit against them, may tender amends fore the wrong alleged or done
by them in their official character, and if found sufficient, the tender
debars the action. See Act of Penn. 21 March, 1772, Sec. 1 and.2; Willes'
Rep. 671, 2; 6 Bin. 83; 5 Serg. & R. 517, 299; 3 Id. 295; 4 Bin. 20.