Lexic.us

Definition of Thumbscrew

1. Noun. Instrument of torture that crushes the thumb.

2. Noun. Screw designed to be turned with the thumb and fingers.

Definition of Thumbscrew

1. n. A screw having a flat-sided or knurled head, so that it may be turned by the thumb and forefinger.

Definition of Thumbscrew

1. Noun. A screw that can be turned with the thumb and fingers ¹

2. Noun. An instrument of torture used to crush the fingers ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Thumbscrew

1. [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Thumbscrew

thumboards thumbpad thumbpads thumbpot thumbpots thumbprint thumbprinting thumbprints thumbs thumbs-down

thumbs-up thumbs down thumbs up thumbsbreadth thumbsbreadths thumbscrew (current term) thumbscrews thumbshot thumbshots thumbshotted

thumbshotting thumbsketch thumbsketches thumbstall thumbstick thumbsticks thumbstroke thumbstrokes thumbsucker thumbsuckers

Literary usage of Thumbscrew

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Printing: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography as Applied More by Charles Thomas Jacobi (1908)
"STICK WITH thumbscrew. tuted; these allow of more rapidly changing the measure. The illustrations now given show the many varieties in use at the present ..."

2. Ireland in 1868, the Battle-field for English Party Strife: Its Grievances by Gerald Fitzgibbon (1868)
"... the boot and the thumbscrew, because they refused to join the Episcopalian Church of England, which he himself detested, and he proceeded in England at ..."

3. The Romance of Invention: Vignettes from the Annals of Industry and Science by James Burnley (1886)
"... Modern Institution—Torture—Barbarous Punishments of the Middle Ages—The Wheel, the Rack, the thumbscrew, and the Boot—Peine Forte et Dure—The ..."

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