Forms: see prec. sb.; also 5 pa. pple. (contr.) tor-, turment. [a. OF. tor-, turmenter (12th c.), tourmenter, f. tor-, turment sb.: cf. med.L. tormentāre, f. tormentum, Pr. turmentar, Sp. tormentar, It. tormentare.]
1. trans. To put to torment or torture; to inflict torture upon.
c. 1290. St. Edmund, 181, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 436. Fiet and hondene þat neren nouȝt i-tormentede with þat here Necke and face and al is heued.
c. 1300. St. Brandan, 595. Oure maister ous hath i-turmented so grisliche allonge niȝt.
1382. Wyclif, Rev. xiv. 10. This … shal be tourmentid [1388 turmentid] with fijr and brunston.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 177. When a devull had turment horrebly a man þat he was in.
1475. Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.), 66. They turmentid hym in prison in the most cruelle wise to dethe.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 168. To moue the Frenche kynge, that innocente persones be not tormented, for Religion.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxviii. 238. For what offences … men are to be Eternally tormented.
2. To afflict or vex with great suffering or misery, physical or mental; to pain, distress, plague.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 4920 + 36. Seynt Petur to hym come, as þe slep hym toke, & tormented hym sore ynou.
1382. Wyclif, Acts v. 33. Whanne thei herden thes thingis, thei weren turmentid, and thouȝten for to sle hem.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 2902. Þo whyche was wt sekenesse so tourmentyd.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1906), 41. The pepille that were … oute of her mynde and turmented.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), 6. Whan the northe wynde … Hath brought cold wynter pore wretches to turment.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 28 b. What ys he … that wil not … be moued & tormented with pitie and mercie?
1713. Steele, Englishm., No. 48. 308. Great Evils … torment the Life of Man.
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII, 143. A disease which had tormented me for sixteen years.
1856. [see TORMENTING ppl. a.].
b. In lighter sense: To tease or worry excessively; to trouble, ‘plague.’
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Abbé Conti, 19 May. We are tormenting our brains with some scheme of politics.
1862. Maurice, Mor. & Met. Philos., IV. vii. § 44. 373. He tormented the Rabbins with questions.
† 3. To throw into agitation; to toss, disturb, shake up, or stir physically. Obs. (exc. as a Gallicism).
1491. Caxton, Vitas Patr. (W. de W., 1495), II. 246. Lyke … raymentes when the foller fulleth them & tourmenteth them often vnder his fete.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xlvi. 156. The shyppe was so sore tormentyd, that the shyppe brast all to peces.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 243. That warr … then soaring on main wing Tormented all the Air; all Air seemed then Conflicting Fire.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 101. The fixed and rooted earth, Tormented into billows, heaves and swells.
1822. [see TORMENTED ppl. a.].
1908. Academy, 27 June, 927/2. After madame had ‘tormented’ the ingredients—the salad was a dish from fairyland.
b. fig. To twist, distort (sense, style, etc.).
1647. Hammond, Power of Keys, iii. 26. Sure this is to peruert and torment the sense.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 230. And pay ’em for tormenting Texts.
1895. Daily News, 18 Oct., 4/7. In Mr. Pater we had a writer of singular natural gifts, who … ended by embroiling and tormenting his style.
Hence Tormented ppl. a. (whence Tormentedly adv.); also Tormentable a., capable of being tormented, susceptible of torment; † Tormentation Obs., tormenting, torment; † Tormentative, † Tormentive adjs. Obs., that torments, tormenting.
1876. Emerson, Ess., Circles, Wks. (Bohn), II. 263. The great man is not convulsible or *tormentable.
1789. A. C. Bower, Diaries & Corr. (1903), 53. I shall have no more *Tormentations.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. viii. 124. From Furies, and things worse *tormentative.
1552. Huloet, *Tourmented, cruciatus, excruciatus.
1686. Horneck, Crucif. Jesus, v. 72. A fiery serpent … a symbol of God’s presence and power to heal the tormented Israelites.
1808. G. Edwards, Pract. Plan, iii. 16. Evils, which our tormented imaginations apprehend.
1822. Scott, Pirate, vii. More than once, large fragments … gave way before him, and thundered down into the tormented ocean.
1870. Buffalo Commercial, 28 May, 4/6. Repaired to watch house, took some rum, and felt *tormentedly revived.
1891. Longm. Mag., March, 531. She was going to break out tormentedly, pleadingly: ‘For God’s sake tell me!’
1653. F. G., trans. Scudery’s Artamenes, VIII. I. (1655), IV. 3. His presence is so *tormentive unto me.
