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One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner. The harpies about all pocket the pool. Goldsmith.

A fantastic grimace or contortion of the body. [Obs.] Smirks and irps and all affected humors. B. Jonson .

n addition there may be wasting of the muscles, falling out of the hair and nails, and distortion of the hands and feet with destruction of the bones and joints. It is incurable, and is probably contagious.Mycobacterium leprae, curable in most cases by therapy with a combination of antibiotics, but cases resistant to t…

e; room; stead; -- used only in the phrase in lieu of, that is, instead of. The plan of extortion had been adopted in lieu of the scheme of confiscation. Burke.

Evil conduct; fraudulent practices; misbehavior, corruption, or extortion in office.

xpressed by the ratio of a stress on a given unit of the substance to the accompanying distortion, or strain. (b) An expression of the force (usually in terms of the height in feet or weight in pounds of a column of the same body) which would be necessary to elongate a prismatic body of a transverse section equal to a…

sick of the palsy." Mark ii. 3. Bell's palsy, paralysis of the facial nerve, producing distortion of one side of the face; -- so called from Sir Charles Bell, an English surgeon who described it. -- Scrivener's palsy. See Writer's cramp, under Writer. -- Shaking palsy, paralysis agitans, a disease usually occurring i…

An extortioner. See Poller. [Obs.] Bacon.

A head or poll tax; hence, extortion. [Obs.] Foxe.

Plunder, or extortion. [Obs.] E. Hall.

r posture or attitude; to contort the body into artificial attitudes, as an acrobat or contortionist; also, to pose.

To stretch or strain, in a figurative sense; hence, to harass, or oppress by extortion. The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants. Spenser. They [landlords] rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof. Fuller. Try what my credit can in Venice do; That shall be racked even to the uttermost. Shak.…

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 .

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

Same as Retortion.

An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint; a niggard. Thackeray.

oving the beard; to cut closely; hence, to be hard and severe in a bargain; to practice extortion; to cheat.

A smile, grin, or contortion of the face, indicative of contempt; an indirect expression or insinuation of contempt. "Who can refute a sneer" Raley.

ore being taken to jail, or until they compromise with their creditors. At these houses extortionate charges are commonly made for food, lodging, etc.