tormentor

Noun

tormentor (plural tormentors)

1. One who torments; a person, animal, or object that causes suffering.
   • Before that estimable lady could recover herself, or offer the slightest retaliation, she was forced into a kneeling posture by a crowd of shouting tormentors, and compelled to swallow a spoonful of the odious mixture […]1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 64, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC
   • A girl of the village […] came and rang at my bell as soon as it was light […] perfectly maddened with an aching tooth. […] The poor thing begged me with tears in her eyes to take out her tormentor, if I dragged her head off.1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter 24, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
   1. (archaic) A person delegated to torture prisoners.
      • And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 18:34
      • All the racks and dungeons of Rome, with their tormentors, could not terrify him.1838, William Ware, Probus, New York: C. S. Francis, Volume 1, Letter 2, p. 56
2. (figuratively) Something abstract that causes suffering.
   • These words hereafter thy tormentors be!1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
   • Thoughts my Tormenters arm’d with deadly stings
     Mangle my apprehensive tenderest parts,1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 42

   Synonyms:

   scourge

3. One of a pair of narrow curtains just behind the front curtain and teaser that mask the areas on the sides of the stage and can be adjusted to the desired width.
   • Then Nathan Eldred, gently pushing, was muttering, ‘On you go, dear. Good luck!’ and she was edging between the tormentor and the backing flats, in front of the curtain, holding her small hands out to the sudden-silenced audience […]1940, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 24, in Bethel Merriday, London: Jonathan Cape, page 241
4. An implement for reducing a stiff soil, resembling a harrow, but running upon wheels.
5. (obsolete) A long meat-fork.
   • Cabin furniture received onboard the U.S.F. Constellation at Washington […] 1 Cleaver and tormentors/Cook; [footnote:] A tormentor is a long iron meat fork used by sea cooks.1813, Charles Stewart, enclosure in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated 18 October, 1813, in William S. Dudley (editor), The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Washington D.C.: Naval...