Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)

98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.

336 words match “TORT”

EXTORTION n. 3 definitions

The act of extorting; the act or practice of wresting anything from a person by force, by threats, or by any undue exercise of power; undue exaction; overcharge.

EXTORTIONARY a.

EXTORTIONATE a.

Characterized by extortion; oppressive; hard.

, One who practices extortion.

Extortionate. [Obs.] "Extortious cruelties." Bp. Hall -- Ex*tor"tious*ly, adv. [Obs.] Bacon.

To twist in and out; to twine; to wreathe; to wind; to wring. Pope.

To torture beforehand. Fuller.

RETORT v. 6 definitions

To bend or curve back; as, a retorted line. With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated. Southey.

One who retorts.

RETORTION n. 2 definitions

Act of retorting or throwing back; reflection or turning back. [Written also retorsion.] It was, however, necessary to possess some single term expressive of this intellectual retortion. Sir W. Hamilton.

Containing retort.

SELF-TORTURE n.

The act of inflicting pain on one's self; pain inflicted on one's self.

The Parliament of Norway, chosen by indirect election once in three years, but holding annual sessions.

hings expedient for us to do. Barrow. Uplifted hands that at convenient times Could act extortion and the worst of crimes. Cowper.

The common bistort or snakeweed (Polygonum bistorta).

A receiver, with two necks, opposite to each other, one of which admits the neck of a retort, and the other is joined to another receiver. It is used in distillations, to give more space to elastic vapors, to increase the length of the neck of a retort, or to unite two vessels whose openings have different diameters. […

upon; -- now commonly used in the passive TO be aggrieved. Aggrieved by oppression and extortion. Macaulay.

To cause to suffer agony; to subject to extreme pain; to torture. He agonized his mother by his behavior. Thackeray.

Pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body, similar to those made in the athletic contests in Greece; and hence, extreme pain of mind or body; anguish; paroxysm of grief; specifically, the sufferings of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly. Luke xxii. 44.…