▪ I. torment, n.
(ˈtɔːmɛnt)
Forms: 3–6 turment, (4 -te), tourment, (5–6 -te), 3– torment, (pl. 3–4 -menz, -mens). (Also β. 5 torna-, tourne-, turna-, turnement, 6 tornement.)
[ME. a. OF. tor-, tourment, ONF. turment (11th c.) = It., Sp., Pg. tormento:—L. torment-um (:—*torqu(e)mentum something operated by twisting, f. torquēre to twist). In sense 5, a. F. tourmente fem. from L. tormenta neut. pl., which became fem. sing. in Romanic, sometimes with final -e in ME. The β-forms show confusion with tournament.]
† 1. An engine of war worked by torsion, for hurling stones, darts, or other missiles. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Macc. vi. 51 And ordeynede there balistis, and engynes, and dartis, or castyngis, of fyr, and tourmentis for to cast stoons and dartis. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. ix. (Bodl. MS.), Regulus þe Emperoure slowe an addre..þat was xx. fote longe wiþ alblastes and tormentes. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. viii, All turmentes of warre, whiche we cal ordinance. [1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Met. 229 Like the bolt from the tormentum cast, Smiting the wall.] |
2. An instrument of torture, as the rack, wheel, or strappado (rare or doubtful); hence, the infliction of torture by such an instrument as a form of punishment, a means of extracting information, etc.; torture inflicted or suffered.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 84/33 Heo bad ore louerd..þat he ire ȝeue þere Studefaste bi-leue..And in hire tormenz treowe heorte. c 1300 Seyn Julian 49 Þe more turment þat hi hire dude þe bet hi hire paide. 1340 Ayenb. 166 We redeþ of zaynte Agase, þet mid greate blisse hi yede to torment alsuo ase hi yede to feste. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame i. 445 And euery turment eke in helle Saugh he. 1413 Sat. agst. Lollards 113 in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 246 And namly James among hem alle, For he twyes had turnement. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 289/2 He dyde doo strayne and payne them in the torment of Eculee. 1494 Fabyan Chron. iv. lxviii. 46 [Mexencius] pursued ye Christen with all kynde of turment. 1550–1 Acts Privy Counc. (1891) III. 230 Order shalbe given that he may be sent up hither to be put to tornement. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 289 It was a torment To lay upon the damn'd. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iv. ii. 161 That torment which the Italians call Tratta de corda, the Strappado. 1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. 169 Those who had done sacrifice thro' the violence of torment in time of persecution. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 454 They swift let fall The pointed torment on his visual ball. |
b. spec. The punishment of hell.
| 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xviii, ‘I knows I'm gwine to torment’, said the woman, sullenly. |
3. A state of great suffering, bodily or mental; agony; severe pain felt or endured.
| c 1290 Beket 434 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 119 So þat þe preost was i-brouȝt In tormenz bi þe meste. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 325 Thus he lay in grete turment, Til þat þe fest was al to-went. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 440 That doubleth al my torment [v.r. turment] and my wo. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 34 Ye haue broughte me in grete sorowe and tournement irrecouerable. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxvi. 6 A schoirt torment for infineit glaidnes. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 28 In which his torment often was so great, That like a Lyon he would cry and rore. 1732 Pope Let. to Swift 5 Dec., In acute torment by the inflammation in his bowels and breast. 1861 Kingsley Lett. (1878) II. 134 The feeling of being always behind-hand..is second only in torment to that of debt. |
† b. spec. A griping or wringing pain in the bowels: = tormina. Obs.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xcii. 273 The seede of Ameos is very good against the griping payne and torment of the belly. c 1610 Women Saints 112 She..endured moste sharpe payne and torment of stomacke. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 172/1 Swelling and Torment in the Belly [of Cows]..if not speedily helped, is Death to the Beast. |
4. An action, circumstance, or condition which causes extreme pain or suffering of body or mind; a source of pain, trouble, or anguish, or in weakened sense, of worry or annoyance.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 130 No, and sweares she neuer will, that's her torment. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline v. vi, Why, death's the end of evils, and a rest Rather than torment. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 364 Want of language, our still recurring torment. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. vii. III. 102 The conviction that he had made himself absurd..was his torment. 1841 Helps Ess., Aids Contentm. (1842) 13 A habit of mistrust is the torment of some people. |
b. Applied to a person who causes trouble. Cf. plague n. 2 c.
| 1784 Cowper Task iv. 632 That instant he [a recruit] becomes the serjeant's care, His pupil, and his torment, and his jest. 1873 ‘Ouida’ Pascarèl I. 32 They were the pride and torment of Mariuccia's life. 1881 ‘Rita’ Lady Coquette i, Will you be quiet, you torment. |
c. In jocular use: An instrument of irritation or annoyance: = tormentor 3 f. (In quot. attrib.)
| 1882 Daily News 30 May 2/1 The Vale of Health was..the most frequented spot of all,..the ‘torment’ and squirt fun rather too buoyant. |
5. A violent storm; a tempest, tornado. Obs. (exc. in Fr. form: see tourmente).
| a 1300 Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 184 For þeras the weder is, þer is turment strong Of wynd, of water, and of fur. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 148 In to þe se of Spayn wer dryuen in a torment. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 540 Ther roose so a grete torment in the see [orig. si grant tormente leva de vent]. 1530 Palsgr. 282/1 Torment a storme on the see, tourmente, tempeste. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xxvi. 199 Vpon the coast of Peru, there be no torments from heauen, as thunder and lightning. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as torment-house, torment robe.
| 1649 J. E[lliston] tr. Behmen's Epist. v. 62 Being in the torment-house of the stars. 1846 T. Aird Poet. Wks. (1856) 240 With torment-pointed threatenings. 1890 E. Hatch Fields of Light 55 Saints who were wafted to the skies In the torment robe of flame. |
▪ II. torment, v.
(tɔːˈmɛnt)
Forms: see prec. n.; also 5 pa. pple. (contr.) tor-, turment.
[a. OF. tor-, turmenter (12th c.), tourmenter, f. tor-, turment n.: cf. med.L. tormentāre, f. tormentum, Pr. turmentar, Sp. tormentar, It. tormentare.]
1. trans. To put to torment or torture; to inflict torture upon.
| c 1290 St. Edmund 181 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 436 Fiet and hondene þat neren nouȝt i-tormentede with þat here Necke and face and al is heued. c 1300 St. Brandan 595 Oure maister ous hath i-turmented so grisliche allonge niȝt. 1382 Wyclif Rev. xiv. 10 This..shal be tourmentid [1388 turmentid] with fijr and brunston. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 177 When a devull had turment horrebly a man þat he was in. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 66 They turmentid hym in prison in the most cruelle wise to dethe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 168 To moue the Frenche kynge, that innocente persones be not tormented, for Religion. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxviii. 238 For what offences..men are to be Eternally tormented. |
2. To afflict or vex with great suffering or misery, physical or mental; to pain, distress, plague.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4920 + 36 Seynt Petur to hym come, as þe slep hym toke, & tormented hym sore ynou. 1382 Wyclif Acts v. 33 Whanne thei herden thes thingis, thei weren turmentid, and thouȝten for to sle hem. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2902 Þo whyche was w{supt} sekenesse so tourmentyd. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1906) 41 The pepille that were..oute of her mynde and turmented. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 6 Whan the northe wynde..Hath brought cold wynter pore wretches to turment. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 28 b, What ys he..that wil not..be moued & tormented with pitie and mercie? 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 48. 308 Great Evils..torment the Life of Man. 1804 Med. Jrnl. XII. 143 A disease which had tormented me for sixteen years. 1856 [see tormenting ppl. a.]. |
b. In lighter sense: To tease or worry excessively; to trouble, ‘plague’.
| 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 19 May, We are tormenting our brains with some scheme of politics. 1862 Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. IV. vii. §44. 373 He tormented the Rabbins with questions. |
† 3. To throw into agitation; to toss, disturb, shake up, or stir physically. Obs. (exc. as a Gallicism).
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 246 Lyke..raymentes when the foller fulleth them & tourmenteth them often vnder his fete. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xlvi. 156 The shyppe was so sore tormentyd, that the shyppe brast all to peces. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 243 That warr..then soaring on main wing Tormented all the Air; all Air seemed then Conflicting Fire. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 101 The fixed and rooted earth, Tormented into billows, heaves and swells. 1822 [see tormented ppl. a.]. 1908 Academy 27 June 927/2 After madame had ‘tormented’ the ingredients—the salad was a dish from fairyland. |
b. fig. To twist, distort (sense, style, etc.).
| 1647 Hammond Power of Keys iii. 26 Sure this is to peruert and torment the sense. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 230 And pay 'em for tormenting Texts. 1895 Daily News 18 Oct. 4/7 In Mr. Pater we had a writer of singular natural gifts, who..ended by embroiling and tormenting his style. |
Hence torˈmentable a., capable of being tormented, susceptible of torment; † tormenˈtation Obs., tormenting, torment; † torˈmentative, † torˈmentive adjs. Obs., that torments, tormenting.
| 1876 Emerson Ess., Circles Wks. (Bohn) II. 263 The great man is not convulsible or *tormentable. |
| 1789 A. C. Bower Diaries & Corr. (1903) 53, I shall have no more *Tormentations. |
| 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. viii. 124 From Furies, and things worse *tormentative. |
| 1653 F. G. tr. Scudery's Artamenes viii. i. (1655) IV. 3 His presence is so *tormentive unto me. |