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upposed, under the circumstances, to create hot blood, and to excuse an assault made in retort or redress.

nvestigation; specifically, a judicial or official investigation; also, examination under torture. Blackstone. He that was in question for the robbery. Shak. The Scottish privy council had power to put state prisoners to the question. Macaulay.

A smart, sarcastic turn or jest; a taunt; a severe retort; a gibe. Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles. Milton. He was full of joke and jest, But all his merry quips are o'er. Tennyson.

A smart retort; a quibble; a shallow conceit. Some odd quirks and remnants of wit. Shak.

An engine of torture, consisting of a large frame, upon which the body was gradually stretched until, sometimes, the joints were dislocated; -- formerly used judicially for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected persons. During the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced into the Tower, and…

To wrench; to tear; to sprain; to injure by violent straining or contortion. [R.] Dryden. "Hasting to raunch the arrow out." Spenser.

Avaricious; grasping; extortionate; also, greedy; ravenous; voracious; as, rapacious usurers; a rapacious appetite. [Thy Lord] redeem thee from Death's rapacious claim Milton .

The act or practice of extorting or exacting by oppressive injustice; exorbitant greediness of gain. "The rapacity of some ages." Sprat.

Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion. Luke xi. 39.

A vessel connected with an alembic, a retort, or the like, for receiving and condensing the product of distillation.

ation from sickness, weakness, faintness, or the like; restoration from a condition of mistortune, of fright, etc.

Having the quality of recrimination; retorting accusation; recriminating.

The act of retorting on an enemy by inflicting suffering or death on a prisoner taken from him, in retaliation for an act of inhumanity. Vattel (Trans. )

thy; to accuse as guilty; to censure. What if thy son Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort, "Wherefore didst thou beget me" Milton.

Same as Retortion.

To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie. If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that I affect to be thought more impartial than I am. Dryden.

To make a retort; to bandy words. [Obs.]

astropods of Paludina, Melontho, and allied genera. See Pond snail, under Pond. -- River tortoise (Zoöl.), any one of numerous fresh-water tortoises inhabiting rivers, especially those of the genus Trionyx and allied genera. See Trionyx.

ANy insect whose larva rolls up leaves; a leaf roller. see Tortrix.

rab. -- Scavenger's daughter Etym: [corrupt. of Skevington's daughter], an instrument of torture invented by Sir W. Skevington, which so compressed the body as to force the blood to flow from nostrils. and sometimes from the hands and feet. Am. Cyc.