torturer

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tor·ture

(tôr′chər)

1. Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.

2. Excruciating physical or mental pain; agony: the torture suffered by inmates in the camp.

3. An experience or cause of severe pain or anguish: "Just to watch them handling thick woolen winter coats in that heat was, for me, a torture" (Arthur Miller).

tr.v. tor·tured, tor·tur·ing, tor·tures

1. To subject (a person or animal) to torture.

2. To bring great physical or mental pain upon (another). See Synonyms at afflict.

3. To overwork, misinterpret, or distort: torture a metaphor throughout an essay; torture a rule to make it fit a case.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin tortūra, from Latin tortus, past participle of torquēre, to twist; see terk^w- in Indo-European roots.]

tor′tur·er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

torturer - someone who inflicts severe physical pain (usually for punishment or coercion)

flogger, scourger - a torturer who flogs or scourges (especially an official whose duty is to whip offenders)

oppressor - a person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures

Translations

βασανιστής

kiduttaja

tortionnaire

aguzzino carnefice torturatore

torturer

[ˈtɔːtʃərəʳ] N → torturador(a) m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

torturer

[ˈtɔː^rtʃərə^r] n → tortionnaire m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

torturer

n (lit) → Folterknecht m; (fig: = tormentor) → Peiniger(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

torturer

[ˈtɔːtʃ/ərəʳ] n → torturatore/trice

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

Two lackeys of the official torturer bathed the bleeding shoulders of the patient, anointed them with some unguent which immediately closed all the wounds, and threw upon his back a sort of yellow vestment, in cut like a chasuble.

But little by little that patience which had borne up under the lash of the torturer, yielded and gave way before all these stings of insects.

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"That's not what I am asking you about, you torturer!" I shouted, turning crimson with anger.

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Thus did the Will, the emancipator, become a torturer; and on all that is capable of suffering it taketh revenge, because it cannot go backward.

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My destruction might indeed arrive a few months sooner, but if my torturer should suspect that I postponed it, influenced by his menaces, he would surely find other and perhaps more dreadful means of revenge.

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no, let us rather choose Arm'd with Hell flames and fury all at once O're Heav'ns high Towrs to force resistless way, Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms Against the Torturer; when to meet the noise Of his Almighty Engin he shall hear Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning see Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his Angels; and his Throne it self Mixt with TARTAREAN Sulphur, and strange fire, His own invented Torments.

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Was it likely, moreover, that the minions of the torturer had not foreseen and provided for this possibility!

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I regard you as one of those men who would stand and smile at their torturer while he cuts their entrails out, if only they have found faith or God.

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"I should have tried to endure the evil or cure it for awhile; and when I found it intolerable and incurable, I should have left my torturer suddenly and silently."

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It bore the stains of blood that had trickled through its joints long ago, and on one side it had a projection whereon the torturer rested his elbow comfortably and bent down his ear to catch the moanings of the sufferer perishing within.

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The circle of torturers formed about Jerry again, and again was wreaked upon him all abusive contempt for having lost his taboo.

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As I made no move to reach the food, the torturers left the light turned on in the hope that at last I could refrain no longer from giving them the delicious thrill of enjoyment that my former futile efforts to obtain it had caused.