tormentress

English

WOTD – 16 August 2015

Etymology

From Middle English turmenteresse; equivalent to tormentor +‎ -ess.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔɹˈmɛn.tɹəs/

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

tormentress (plural tormentresses)

1. A female tormentor.

   Synonym: tormentrix

   • 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, published 1635, →OCLC:

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

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

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

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

     "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?"

Translations

a female tormentor

• Russian: мучительница (ru) f (mučitelʹnica)