tormentor
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
lifestyle
nautical
theater
transport
Etymology: From Anglo-Norman tourmentour, from Old French tormenteor.
Inflected forms:
form: tormentors
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: tormentour
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: One who torments; a person, animal, or object that causes suffering.
pos: noun
examples: Before that estimable lady could recover herself, or offer the slightest retaliation, she was forced into a kneeling posture by a crowd of shouting tormentors, and compelled to swallow a spoonful of the odious mixture […]
A girl of the village […] came and rang at my bell as soon as it was light […] perfectly maddened with an aching tooth. […] The poor thing begged me with tears in her eyes to take out her tormentor, if I dragged her head off.
The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland.
gloss: One who torments; a person, animal, or object that causes suffering.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
All the racks and dungeons of Rome, with their tormentors, could not terrify him.
1933, Hervey Allen, Anthony Adverse, New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 6, p. 78,
Her eyes rested on him for an instant like those of an accused person seeing the state tormentor approach for the first time.
gloss: Something abstract that causes suffering.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: These words hereafter thy tormentors be!
Thoughts my Tormenters arm’d with deadly stings
Mangle my apprehensive tenderest parts,
1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Part 1, Section 1, p. 10,
The infant […] feels only the uneasiness of the present instant, which can never be great. With regard to the future it is perfectly secure, and in its thoughtlessness and want of foresight possesses an antidote against fear and anxiety, the great tormentors of the human breast, from which reason and philosophy will in vain attempt to defend it when it grows up to a man.
As he spoke about his loss, it became clear why he had waited at the station platform every day to meet their train: he was matching his wits with time the great tormentor.
gloss: One of a pair of narrow curtains just behind the front curtain and teaser that mask the areas on the sides of the stage and can be adjusted to the desired width.
pos: noun
examples: Then Nathan Eldred, gently pushing, was muttering, ‘On you go, dear. Good luck!’ and she was edging between the tormentor and the backing flats, in front of the curtain, holding her small hands out to the sudden-silenced audience […]
gloss: An implement for reducing a stiff soil, resembling a harrow, but running upon wheels.
pos: noun
gloss: A long meat-fork.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 1813, Charles Stewart, enclosure in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated 18 October, 1813, in William S. Dudley (editor), The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Washington D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1992, Volume 2, p. 392,
Cabin furniture received onboard the U.S.F. Constellation at Washington […] 1 Cleaver and tormentors/Cook; [footnote:] A tormentor is a long iron meat fork used by sea cooks.
Related words: tormentress
tormentrix
Derived words: self-tormentor
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: мъчител
roman: mǎčitel
lang: Catalan
word: turmentador
lang: Finnish
word: ahdistaja
lang: French
word: bourreau
lang: German
word: Peiniger
lang: German
word: Peinigerin
lang: Greek
word: βασανιστής
roman: vasanistís
lang: Macedonian
word: ма́чител
roman: máčitel
lang: Macedonian
word: вади́душа
roman: vadíduša
lang: Old English
word: pīnere
lang: Polish
word: dręczyciel
lang: Polish
word: dręczycielka
lang: Portuguese
word: atormentador
lang: Russian
word: мучи́тель
roman: mučítelʹ
lang: Russian
word: мучи́тельница
roman: mučítelʹnica
lang: Spanish
word: atormentador
lang: Swedish
word: plågoande
lang: Turkish
word: eziyetçi