TORTUREn.
[L. tortus, torqueo, to twist.]
1. Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony; torment.
Ghastly spasm or racking torture.
2. Severe pain inflicted judicially, either as a punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a confession from an accused person. Torture may be and is inflicted in a variety of ways, as by water or fire, or by the boot or thumbkin. But the most usual mode is by the rack or wheel.
TORTUREv.t.
To pain to extremity; to torment.
1. To punish with torture; to put to the rack; as, to torture an accused person.
2. To vex; to harass.
3. To keep on the stretch, as a bow. [Not in use.]