[ɔːˈdiːl], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a very unpleasant and prolonged experience
(e.g: the ordeal of having to give evidence)

- an ancient test of guilt or innocence by subjection of the accused to severe pain, survival of which was taken as divine proof of innocence
(e.g: ordeals conducted in the twelfth century)


Phrases:

Origin:
Old English ordāl, ordēl, of Germanic origin; related to German urteilen ‘give judgement’, from a base meaning ‘share out’. The word is not found in Middle English (except once in Chaucer's Troilus); modern use of ordeal began in the late 16th century, whence ordeal (mid 17th century)