torturess

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English torture

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English torturer

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa)bor.

Late Latin -issader.

Old French -essebor.

Middle English -esse

English -ess

English torturess

From torturer + -ess.

Noun

torturess (plural torturesses)

1. A female torturer.
   • 1989, Ronald Bogue, Deleuze and Guattari:

     […] like Masoch himself in his personal life, draw up quasi-legal documents granting specific powers to the torturess for a certain length of time.

   • 2003, David Cotter, James Joyce and the Perverse Ideal:

     Furthermore, sadism and masochism do not meet somewhere in the middle. The masochist does not want a sadistic torturess […]

   • 2005, Catherine Constable, Thinking in Images:

     The gulf between the female characters and their performance as the torturess, for example Wanda's reincarnation as the titular Venus in furs […]