Search the Dictionary

Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony; especially, one of the pangs of travail in childbirth, or purturition. Prodogious motion felt, and rueful throes. Milton.

Extreme pain; anguish; torture; the utmost degree of misery, either of body or mind. Chaucer. The more I see Pleasures about me, so much more I feel Torment within me. Milton.

One who, or that which, torments; one who inflicts penal anguish or tortures. Jer. Taylor. Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings. Milton.

Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony; torment; as, torture of mind. Shak. Ghastly spasm or racking torture. Milton.

capable of being spoken or voiced; inexpressible; ineffable; unspeakable; as, unutterable anguish. Sighed and looked unutterable things. Thomson. -- Un*ut"ter*a*ble*ness, n. -- Un*ut"ter*a*bly, adv.

wait the funeral. Dryden. Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, And everlasting anguish be thy portion. Rowe.

Formerly, to express sorrow, grief, or anguish, by outcry, or by other manifest signs; in modern use, to show grief or other passions by shedding tears; to shed tears; to cry. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck. Acts xx. 37. Phocion was rarely seen to weep or to laugh. Mitford. And eyes that wake to weep.…

Hence, to cause to languish; to depress or destroy the vigor and energy of. [Prov. Eng. & U. S.] Despots have wilted the human race into sloth and imbecility. Dr. T. Dwight.

To lose vigor or power; to languish; to pass away. "Names that must not wither." Byron. States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane. Cowper.

To writhe; to twist, as with anguish. 'T is all men's office to speak patience To those that wring under the load of sorrow. Shak. Look where the sister of the king of France Sits wringing of her hands, and beats her breast. Marlowe.