Forms: 3–6 turment, (4 -te), tourment, (5–6 -te), 3– torment, (pl. 3–4 -menz, -mens). (Also β. 5 torna-, tourne-, turna-, turnement, 6 tornement.) [ME. a. OF. tor-, tourment, ONF. turment (11th c.) It., Sp., Pg. tormento:—L. torment-um (:—*torqu(e)mentum something operated by twisting, f. torquēre to twist). In sense 5, a. F. tourmente fem. from L. tormenta neut. pl., which became fem. sing. in Romanic, sometimes with final -e in ME. The β-forms show confusion with TOURNAMENT.]
† 1. An engine of war worked by torsion, for hurling stones, darts, or other missiles. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Macc. vi. 51. And ordeynede there balistis, and engynes, and dartis, or castyngis, of fyr, and tourmentis for to cast stoons and dartis.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. ix. (Bodl. MS.). Regulus þe Emperoure slowe an addre … þat was xx. fote longe wiþ alblastes and tormentes.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. viii. All turmentes of warre, whiche we cal ordinance.
[1866. J. B. Rose, trans. Ovid’s Met., 229. Like the bolt from the tormentum cast, Smiting the wall.]
2. An instrument of torture, as the rack, wheel, or strappado (rare or doubtful); hence, the infliction of torture by such an instrument as a form of punishment, a means of extracting information, etc.; torture inflicted or suffered.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 84/33. Heo bad ore louerd … þat he ire ȝeue þere Studefaste bi-leue … And in hire tormenz treowe heorte.
c. 1300. Seyn Julian, 49. Þe more turment þat hi hire dude þe bet hi hire paide.
1340. Ayenb., 166. We redeþ of zaynte Agase, þet mid greate blisse hi yede to torment alsuo ase hi yede to feste.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 445. And euery turment eke in helle Saugh he.
1413. Sat. agst. Lollards, 113, in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 246. And namly James among hem alle, For he twyes had turnement.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 289/2. He dyde doo strayne and payne them in the torment of Eculee.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., IV. lxviii. 46. [Mexencius] pursued ye Christen with all kynde of torment.
1550–1. Acts Privy Counc. (1891), III. 230. Order shalbe given that he may be sent up hither to be put to tornement.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 289. It was a torment To lay upon the damn’d.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., IV. ii. 161. That torment which the Italians call Tratta de corda, the Strappado.
1709. J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade M., II. 169. Those who had done sacrifice thro’ the violence of torment in time of persecution.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IX. 454. They swift let fall The pointed torment on his visual ball.
b. spec. The punishment of hell.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xviii. ‘I knows I’m gwine to torment,’ said the woman, sullenly.
3. A state of great suffering, bodily or mental; agony; severe pain felt or endured.
c. 1290. Beket, 434, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 119. So þat þe preost was i-brouȝt In tormenz bi þe meste.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 325. Thus he lay in grete turment, Til þat þe fest was al to-went.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 440. That doubleth al my torment [v.r. turment] and my wo.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 34. Ye haue broughte me in grete sorowe and tournement irrecouerable.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxvi. 6. A schoirt torment for infineit glaidnes.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 28. In which his torment often was so great, That like a Lyon he would cry and rore.
1732. Pope, Lett. to Swift, 5 Dec. In acute torment by the inflammation in his bowels and breast.
1861. Kingsley, Lett. (1878), II. 134. The feeling of being always behind-hand … is second only in torment to that of debt.
† b. spec. A griping or wringing pain in the bowels: = TORMINA. Obs.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xcii. 273. The seede of Ameos is very good against the griping payne and torment of the belly.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 112. She … endured moste sharpe payne and torment of stomacke.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 172/1. Swelling and Torment in the Belly [of Cows] … if not speedily helped, is Death to the Beast.
4. An action, circumstance, or condition that causes extreme pain or suffering of body or mind; a source of pain, trouble, or anguish, or in weakened sense, of worry or annoyance.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. iii. 130. No, and sweares she neuer will, that’s her torment.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, V. vi. Why, death’s the end of evils, and a rest Rather than torment.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 364. Want of language, our still recurring torment.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., vii. III. 102. The conviction that he had made himself absurd … was his torment.
1841. Helps, Ess., Aids Contentm. (1842), 13. A habit of mistrust is the torment of some people.
b. Applied to a person who causes trouble. Cf. PLAGUE sb. 2 c.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 632. That instant he [a recruit] becomes the serjeant’s care, His pupil, and his torment, and his jest.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, I. 32. They were the pride and torment of Mariuccia’s life.
1881. ‘Rita,’ My Lady Coquette, i. Will you be quiet, you torment.
c. In jocular use: An instrument of irritation or annoyance: = TORMENTOR 3 f. (In quot. attrib.)
1882. Daily News, 30 May, 2/1. The Vale of Health was … the most frequented spot of all,… the ‘torment’ and squirt fun rather too buoyant.
5. A violent storm; a tempest, tornado. Obs. (exc. in Fr. form tourmente).
a. 1300. Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright), 184. For þeras the weder is, þer is turment strong Of wynd, of water, and of fur.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 148. In to þe se of Spayn wer dryuen in a torment.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 540. Ther roose so a grete torment in the see [orig. si grant tormente leva de vent].
1530. Palsgr., 282/1. Torment a storme on the see, tourmente, tempeste.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xxvi. 199. Vpon the coast of Peru, there be no torments from heauen, as thunder and lightning.
[1847. G. B. Cheever, Wand. Pilgr., xii. 90. The fury of these tourmentes is inconceivable.
1909. Blackw. Mag., Sept., 341/1. I reached it … in a more than usually objectionable tourmente of snow.]
6. attrib. and Comb., as torment-house, robe.
1649. J. E[llistone], trans. Behmen’s Epist., v. 62. Being in the torment-house of the stars.
1846. T. Aird, Poet. Wks. (1856), 240. With torment-pointed threatenings.
1890. E. Hatch, Fields of Light, 55. Saints who were wafted to the skies In the torment robe of flame.
