tormentress

tormentress

English

WOTD – 16 August 2015

Etymology

tormentor +‎ -ess

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔɹˈmɛn.tɹəs/

• Audio (AU)

  (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

a female tormentor

Russian: мучительница (ru) f (mučitelʹnica)