Torture : (noun)
1: extreme mental distress [syn: anguish, torment]
2: unbearable physical pain [syn: torment]
3: intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical
pain; "an agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned"
[syn: agony, torment]
4: the act of distorting something so it seems to mean
something it was not intended to mean [syn: distortion,
overrefinement, straining, twisting]
5: the act of torturing someone; "it required unnatural
torturing to extract a confession" [syn: torturing]
(verb)
1: torment emotionally or mentally [syn: torment, excruciate,
rack]
2: subject to torture; "The sinners will be tormented in Hell,
according to the Bible" [syn: excruciate, torment]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Torture : \Tor"ture\, n. [F.,fr.L. tortura, fr. torquere, tortum,
to twist, rack, torture; probably akin to Gr. tre`pein to
turn, G. drechsein to turn on a lathe, and perhaps to E.
queer. Cf. Contort, Distort, Extort, Retort, Tart,
n., Torch, Torment, Tortion, Tort, Trope.]
1. Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony;
torment; as, torture of mind. --Shak.
Ghastly spasm or racking torture. --Milton.
2. Especially, severe pain inflicted judicially, either as
punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a
confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by
the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or wheel.
3. The act or process of torturing.
Torture, whitch had always been deciared illegal,
and which had recently been declared illegal even by
the servile judges of that age, was inflicted for
the last time in England in the month of May, 1640.
--Macaulay.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Torture : \Tor"ture\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tortured (?; 135); p.
pr. & vb. n. Torturing.] [Cf. F. Torturer. ]
1. To put to torture; to pain extremely; to harass; to vex.
2. To punish with torture; to put to the rack; as, to torture
an accused person. --Shak.
3. To wrest from the proper meaning; to distort. --Jar.
Taylor.
4. To keep on the stretch, as a bow. [Obs.]
The bow tortureth the string. --Bacon.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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TORTURE, punishments. A punishment inflicted in some countries on supposed
criminals to induce them to confess their crimes, and to reveal their
associates.
2. This absurd and tyrannical practice never was in use in the United
States; for no man is bound to accuse himself. An attempt toTorture : a
person accused of crime, in order to extort a confession, is an indictable
offence. 2 Tyler, 380. Vide Question.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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Torture : Torture: An act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person, for a purpose such as obtaining information or a confession, punishment,
intimidation or coercion, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind. Survivors of torture often suffer from physical and psychological symptoms and disabilities. There may be specific forms
of physical injury including broken bones, neurological damage, and musculoskeletal problems. Torture may results in psychological symptoms of depression (most common), post-traumatic stress disorder,
marked sleep disturbances and alterations in self-perceptions together with feelings of powerlessness, fear, guilt and shame.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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