tormentress

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English

Etymology

From Middle English turmenteresse. By surface analysis, tormentor +‎ -ess.

Pronunciation

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, →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?"

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