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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Torture

Tōrt'ūre, n.

noun

(tôrt'yūr, 53), n. [Fr. torture, Pr., Sp., Pg., It., & Lat. tortura, from Lat. torquere, tortum, to twist, rack, torture.]

Sense 1. Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony; torment. “Ghastly spasm or racking torture.” Milton.

Sense 2. Especially, severe pain inflicted judicially, either as a punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or wheel.

Torture, which had always been declared illegal, and which had recently been declared illegal even by the servile judges of that age, was inflicted for the last time in England in the month of May, 1640. Macaulay.

Tört'üre, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. TORTURED; p. pr. & vb. n. TORTURING.] [Fr. torturer, It. torturare.]

  1. To put to torture; to pain extremely; to harass; to vex.
  2. To punish with torture; to put to the rack; as, to torture an accused person.

He may at pleasure whip, hang, or torture. Shak. 3. To keep on the stretch, as a bow. [Obs.] The bow tortureth the string. Bacon.