Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A screw designed so that it can be turned with the thumb and fingers.
- noun An instrument of torture formerly used to compress the thumb.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A screw having a broad head, or a plate projecting from the head, so that it may be turned easily by the finger and thumb.
- noun An instrument of torture by which one or both thumbs were compressed so as to inflict great agony without danger to life.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A screw having a flat-sided or knurled head, so that it may be turned by the thumb and forefinger.
- noun An old instrument of torture for compressing the thumb by a screw; a thumbkin.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
screw that can be turned with thethumb andfingers - noun An instrument of
torture used tocrush the fingers
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun screw designed to be turned with the thumb and fingers
- noun instrument of torture that crushes the thumb
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The thumbscrew was a little thing, but caused great agony.
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About the definition of “torture”, I can see a need for scrutiny, since the real debate (pace His Andrewship) isn’t over whether the rack and the thumbscrew are acceptable methods of questioning but whether waterboarding, sleep deprivation and raucous music belong in the same odious category.
Immigration 2010
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The first was a kind of thumbscrew; the second was a frame in which the leg was inserted, and in which it was broken by wedges driven in by a hammer; the third was also an iron frame for the leg, which was from time to time heated over a brazier.
The Necessity of Atheism David Marshall Brooks
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About the definition of “torture”, I can see a need for scrutiny, since the real debate (pace His Andrewship) isn’t over whether the rack and the thumbscrew are acceptable methods of questioning but whether waterboarding, sleep deprivation and raucous music belong in the same odious category.
How Many Amnestied Aliens Can Dance in the Nib of a Pen? 2007
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It was at one time believed that there was something miraculous in the oath, that it was a kind of thumbscrew that would torture the truth out of a rascal, and at one time they believed that if a man swore falsely he might be struck by lightning or paralyzed.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII. Interviews Robert Green Ingersoll 1866
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There was a machine called the piniwinkies -- a kind of thumbscrew, which brought blood from under the finger nails, with a pain successfully terrible.
Short Studies on Great Subjects James Anthony Froude 1856
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Despite daily requests, Steinberg's library refused to lend prisoners copies of The 48 Laws of Power, the book about survival skills reportedly beloved of some of America's top rappers – perhaps unsurprisingly for a manual which counsels you to "conceal your intentions" and "discover each man's thumbscrew."
Memoir reveals prisoners' book preferences Benedicte Page 2010
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The relevance of the thumbscrew analogy is that we have yet to find equivalent tools in modern society to dial back to a dull roar many of the noisy challenges that our "operators" are dealing with every day.
Frank A. Weil: Time to Scale Back Frank A. Weil 2011
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From the thumbscrew to the rack to the boring insects to the electrode to the waterboard, amazing human ingenuity and energy have been devoted to inflicting pain.
Eric L. Lewis: Cheney, the CIA and Torture: Asking the Wrong Questions 2009
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Mary was living in a perfect miniature geodesic dome of hazel rods joined at the intersections of the hexagons by starfish of copper plumbing pipe flattened at the centre and held together by a thumbscrew nut and bolt.
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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