tormentress

English

WOTD – 16 August 2015

Etymology

tormentor + -ess

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɔɹˈmɛn.tɹəs/
  • (file)

Noun

tormentress (plural tormentresses)

  1. A female tormentor.
    • Holland
      Fortune ordinarily cometh after to whip and punish them, as the scourge and tormentress 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. Pg. 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?"

Translations

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