TORT'URE, n. [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.TORT'URE, v.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.]
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