tormentress

plural tormentresses

1. A female tormentor.

   Fortune ordinarily cometh after to whip and punish them, as the scourge and tormentresse of glory and honour.

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   But if the victim Lavinia offers a prime example, her tormentress Tamora provides a no less striking model of another kind.

   1996, Gordon Williams, Shakespeare, Sex and the Print Revolution

   "Tell me," I repeated, but, alas ! miserably out of tune. My confusion rapidly increased, when the fair tormentress, turning towards me, said, perhaps it is my fault — I am not playing correctly?"

   1836, The Meerut Universal Magazine, volume 2, page 390

   Synonyms: tormentrix