[a. AF. tormenteresse, fem. of tormentour TORMENTOR.] A female tormentor.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 11691. A gret turmenteresse Wych doth to ffolk fful gret dystresse.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXVIII. iv. II. 301. Fortune … ordinarily commeth after … as the scourge and tormentresse of glorie and honour.
1784. Woodhouselee, trans. Petrarch, Sonn. 48. 52.
| O lend thy aid, thy heavenly light impart; | |
| Point out the path of life; unveil my eyes; | |
| Let my tormentress see my alter’d heart, | |
| And scorn to persecute so poor a prize! |
1824. Poughkeepsie Jrnl., 23 June, 2/1. When the desert appears, some tormentress or other directs the servants to place a pair of nut crackers near me.
1895. R. Y. Tyrrell, Latin Poetry, 103. He [Catullus] tries to brace himself up to endure, and breaks down in a wild burst of rage against his tormentress.
