tormentor

plural tormentors · alternative obsolete tormentour

1. One who torments; a person, animal, or object that causes suffering.

   The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland.

   2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph

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   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 […]

   1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 64, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC

   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.

   1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter 24, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   1. archaicA person delegated to torture prisoners.

      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.

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      And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 18:34

      All the racks and dungeons of Rome, with their tormentors, could not terrify him.

      1838, William Ware, Probus, New York: C. S. Francis, Volume 1, Letter 2, p. 56

      Synonyms: torturer

2. figurativelySomething abstract that causes suffering.

   These words hereafter thy tormentors be!

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene 1]

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   Thoughts my Tormenters arm’d with deadly stings Mangle my apprehensive tenderest parts,

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 42

   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.

   1995, Rohinton Mistry, chapter 15, in A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, page 630

   Synonyms: scourge

3. entertainmentOne 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.

   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 […]

   1940, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 24, in Bethel Merriday, London: Jonathan Cape, page 241

4. An implement for reducing a stiff soil, resembling a harrow, but running upon wheels.
5. obsoletenauticalA long meat-fork.

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   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.