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Thumbscrew   Listen
noun
Thumbscrew  n.  
1.
A screw having a flat-sided or knurled head, so that it may be turned by the thumb and forefinger.
2.
An old instrument of torture for compressing the thumb by a screw; a thumbkin.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Thumbscrew" Quotes from Famous Books



... and voice and manner, but is it fear that prompts her eternal 'I cudna say,' or is it perchance Scotch caution and prudence? Is she afraid of projecting her personality too indecently far? Is it the indirect effect of heresy trials on her imagination? Does she remember the thumbscrew of former generations? At all events, she will neither affirm nor deny, and I am putting her to all sorts of tests, hoping to discover finally whether she is an accident, an exaggeration, or ...
— Penelope's Experiences in Scotland • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... and corners, like felons hiding from the law, that they may worship the Almighty after some fashion as pure as it is simple, knowing the while that if they are found so doing their lot and the lot of their wives and children will be the torment and the stake. Now the thumbscrew and the rack as instruments for the discomfiture of heretics are relegated to the dusty cases of museums. But some short generations since all this was different, for then a man who dared to disagree with certain doctrines was ...
— Lysbeth - A Tale Of The Dutch • H. Rider Haggard


Words linked to "Thumbscrew" :   instrument of torture


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