tortuosity 
As for the tortuosity of the body and branches, it maketh 
nothing to the purpose and point in hand. 
Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 562. 
2. A twisting or winding ; a bend ; a sinuosity. 
Could it be expected . . . that a man so known for im- 
penetrable reticence . . . would all at once frankly un- 
lock his private citadel to an English Editor and a German 
Hofrath, and not rather deceptively inlock both Editor 
and Hofrath in the labyrinthic tortuosities and covered- 
ways of said citadel? Carlyle, Sartor Kesartus, ii. 10. 
tortuous 1 (tor'tu-us), a. [< ME. tortuous, tor- 
tuos, < OF. tortuos, F. tortueux = Pr. tortuos = 
Sp. Pg. It. tortuoso, < L. tortuosus, full of twists 
or turns, winding, tortuous, < tortus, a twisting, 
winding, whirling, a wreath: see torfi.] 1. 
Full of twists or turns; winding; hence, crook- 
ed ; zigzag. Geometers apply the word specifically to 
curves of which no two successive portions lie in one 
plane. 
The dragon had grete siguiflcacion in hymself, . . . the 
taile that was so tortuouse betokened the grete treson of 
the peple. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 393. 
An antiquated Manor-house of Elizabethan architecture, 
with its ... tortuous chimneys rising above the surround- 
ing trees. Barhom, Ingoldsby Legends, Pref., p. vi. 
2. Oblique : applied in astrology to the six zo- 
diacal signs which ascend most rapidly and ob- 
liquely. 
Thise same signes fro the heved of Capricorne unto the 
ende of Geminis ben cleped tortuos signes or kroked signes, 
for they arisen embelif on oure orisonte. 
Chaucer, Astrolabe, ii. 28. 
3. Figuratively, circuitous; devious; irregu- 
lar ; crooked : especially in a moral sense. 
Augustus Caesar was so little able to enter into any arti- 
ficial forms or tortuous obscurities of ambitious rhetoric 
that he could not so much as understand them. 
De Quincey, Style, i. 
He came prepared, not only to smite the Netherlanders 
in the open field, but to cope with them in tortuous policy. 
Motley, Dutch Eepublic, HI. 373. 
Tortuous curve. See curve. =Syn. 1. Sinuous, serpen- 
tine, curvilinear, circuitous, indirect, roundabout. 
tortUOUS' 2 t, An obsolete variant of tortious. 
tortuously (tor'tu-us-li), adv. In a tortuous 
or winding manner. 
tortuousness (tor'tu-us-nes), n. The state of 
being tortuous. Bailey, 1727. 
torturable (tor'tur-a-bl), . [< torture + -able.] 
Capable of being tortured. Bailey, 1731. 
torturableness (tor'tur-a-bl-nes), n. The ca- 
pacity for being tortured. Bailey, 1727. 
torture (tor'tur), n. [< F. torture = Pr. Sp. Pg. 
It. tortura, torture, < LL. tortura, a twisting, 
wreathing, of bodily pain, a griping colic, ML. 
pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical au- 
thority as a means of persuasion, torture, < L. 
torquere, pp. tortus, twist: see tort 1 . Cf. tor- 
ment.] 1. The act of inflicting severe pain as 
a punishment, as a means of persuasion, or in 
revenge ; specifically, the act of inflicting such 
pain under the orders of a court of justice, roy- 
al commission, ecclesiastical organization, or 
other legal or self -constituted judge or author- 
ity, especially as a supposed means of extort- 
ing the truth from an accused person or as a 
commutative punishment (also called specifi- 
ca\\y judicial torture) ; the pain so inflicted. The 
theory was that a guilty person could be made to confess, 
but an innocent person not, by this means. The infliction 
of torture upon alleged heretics was practised by ecclesi- 
astical powers, especially in southern Europe, in the later 
middle ages and down to the eighteenth century, and its 
infliction upon captured enemies is a common practice 
among savage peoples. 
Torture, which had always been declared illegal, and 
which had recently been declared illegal even by the ser- 
vile judges of that age, was inflicted for the last time in 
England in the month of May, 1640. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., i. 
Torture, as a part of the punishment, may be regarded 
as including every kind of bodily or mental pain beyond 
what is necessary for the safe custody of the orfender(with 
or without enforced labour) or the destruction of his life, 
in the language of Bentham, an afflictive as opposed to 
a simple punishment. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 460. 
2. In general, the act, operation, or process of 
inflicting excruciating pain, physical or mental. 
3. Excruciating pain; extreme anguish of 
body or mind; agony; anguish; torment. 
And that deep torture may be call'd a hell 
When more is felt than one hath power to tell. 
Shak, Lucrece, 1. 1287. 
I roll from place to place 
T 1 avoid my tortures, to obtain relief, 
But still am dogg'd and haunted with my grief. 
Quarles, Emblems, iii. 3. 
To put to the torture, to torture. =Syn. Agony, An- 
guish, Pang, etc. See agony and list under pang*. 
torture (tdr'tur), v. ; pret. and pp. tortured, ppr. 
torturing. [< torture, n.] I. trans. 1. To in- 
flict severe pain upon ; pain extremely ; torment 
bodily or mentally. 
6396 
If thou dost slander her and torture me, 
Never pray more. Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 868. 
A secret unrest 
Tortured thee, brilliant and bold ! 
M. Arnold, Heine's Grave. 
2. To punish with torture ; put to the torture. 
Men taken by their enemies were tortured to the point 
of death, but revived to be tortured again, and killed at 
last with every refinement of savage cruelty. 
C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 104. 
3. To wrest from the natural position or state; 
especially, in a figurative sense, to distort; 
pervert; torment. 
This place had been tortured by interpreters and pulled 
to pieces by disputation. Jer. Taylor. 
4f. To pull out; stretch; strain. 
The bow tortureth the string continually, and thereby 
holdeth it in a continual trepidation. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist., 137. 
II. intrans. To cause torture ; give exquisite 
pain. 
The closing flesh that instant ceas'd to glow, 
The wound to torture, and the blood to now. 
Pope, Iliad, xi. 986. 
torturer (tor'tur-6r), n. [< torture + -er 1 .] 
One who tortures, in any sense ; especially, one 
who executed or superintended the execution 
of torture ordered by a tribunal. 
I play the torturer, by small and small 
To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken. 
Shale., Eich. II., iii. 2. 198. 
torturingly (tor'tur-ing-li), adv. So as to tor- 
ture or torment. Beau, and Fl. , Laws of Candy, 
iii. 2. 
torturous (tor'tur-us), a. [< torture + -OMS.] 
Causing torture ; pertaining to or characterized 
by torture. 
Shrink np his eyes 
With torturous darkness, such as stands in hell, 
Stuck full of inward horrors. 
Chapman, Bussy D'Ambois, iv. 1. 
The spectators who shed tears at the torturous cruci- 
fixion. 1. D'lsraeli, Amen, of Lit., I. 395. 
torula (tor'ij-la), n.; pi. torula! (-le). [NL., < 
L. torulus, dim. of torus, a swelling, protuber- 
ance : see torus.'] 1. In oot., a small torus. 
2. \rap.~\ A genus of mucedinous fungi, having 
decumbent sterile hyphee and conidia single or 
in a series. About 100 species are known. 
toruli, 11. Plural of torulus. 
toruliform (tor'ij-li-form), a. [< NL. torula, 
q. v., + L. forma, form.] Having the form of 
a torula; moniliform, like a string of beads. 
toruloid (tor'ij-loid), a. [< Torula + -oid.~\ In 
hot., pertaining to or resembling the genus 
Torula. 
torulose (tor'o-los), . [< NL. torulus, torula, + 
-ose.] 1. In hot., diminutively or slightly to- 
rose. 2. In entom. : (a) Having a few rounded 
elevations or knobs scattered over the surface. 
(b) Slightly tumid or swelled in one part : as, a 
torulose antenna. 
torulous (tor'ij-lus), a. [< torula + -ous."\ In 
oot., same as torulose. 
torulus (tor'ij-lus), n.; pi. toruli (-11). [NL., 
dim. of L. torus, a swelling, protuberance : see 
torus.] In entom., the socket of the antenna ; 
a cavity of the head in which the base of the 
antenna is socketed. 
torus (to'rus), TO. ; pi. tori (-ri). [< L. torus, 
torum (also erroneously thorns), a swelling, pro- 
tuberance, knot, bulge, a raised ornament, a 
mattress, bed.] 1. In arch., a large convex 
molding of semicircular profile or a profile of 
kindred curve, used especially in bases, gener- 
ally as the lowest member of the base, above 
Tori, as used in an Attic Ionic base. Northwest angle column of 
north porch of Erechtheum. Athens. The upper convex molding is a 
braided torus, the hollow molding next below a scotia, and the lower 
convex molding a plain torus. 
the plinth when this is present. It differs from 
the astragal only in size, the astragal being 
much smaller. Sometimes called tore. See also 
cuts under base and column. 2. In bot., the re- 
tory 
ceptacle of a flower; the more or less enlarged 
extremity of a stem or floral axis upon which the 
floral organs are situated. See receptacle, 2 (a), 
and cut under myrtle. 3. In anat., a smooth 
rounded ridge or elongated protuberance, as of 
a muscle; specifically, the tuber cinereum of 
the brain, or that part of the floor of the third 
ventricle which is prolonged downward to form 
a contracted passage from the cavity of the third 
ventricle into that of the pituitary body. 4. In 
zoiil., some part or organ likened to a torus ; spe- 
cifically, a ventral parapodium of some annelids. 
Torus angularis, in starfishes, a single ossicle which 
articulates with the inner edges of a pair of interambula- 
cral plates at the base of the arms, as in brittle-stars. It 
bears the angular papilla? and pala?. See cut under Astro- 
phyton. 
The free surface of the torus angularis lies in the walls 
of a sort of vestibule in front of the mouth. 
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 483. 
Torus manus, the metacarpus. 
torveM, '. t. [ME. torren, torvien, < AS. torfian, 
throw, cast. Cf . terve and totorre, and see top- 
syturvy. ] To throw; cast. 
That swerd he [Samuel] vpheof 
And that heued of-swipte, 
And al to-scende thane king, 
In Jerusalem his cheping, 
And the sticches toruede, 
Wide jeond tha straten. Layamon, 1. 16703. 
torve 2 t (torv), a. [< OF. torve = Sp. Pg. It. torvo, 
< L. torvus, grim, wild, fierce, stern, in aspect or 
character. Cf. torvous.] Grim; wild; fierce; 
stern; of a stern countenance. 
He is supposed to have overlook'd this church, when fin- 
ished, with a torve and tetrick countenance. 
fuller, Worthies, Lincolnshire. 
torvedt (torvd), a. [< torve% + -ed 2 .] Same as 
torre 2 . 
But yesterday his breath 
Aw'd Borne, and his least torved frown was death. 
Webster, Appius and Virginia, v. 3. 
torvityt (tor'vi-ti), n. [< L. torvita(t-)s, grim- 
ness, sternness, < torvus, grim, stern: see force 2 .] 
Grimness; sternness. Bailey, 1731. 
torvoust (tor' vus), a. [< L. torvus, grim, stern : 
see torve%.~\ Same as torve 2 . 
That torvous, sour look produced by anger and hatred. 
Derham, Physico-Theol., v. 8. 
Torvulae (tor'vu-le), n. pi. [NL., dim. of L. 
torvus, grim, fierce: see torvous.] In hot., same 
as Mycoderma. 
tory (to'ri), n. and a. [< Ir. toiridhe, also to- 
rmdhe, toruighe, a pursuer, searcher (hence a 
plunderer), < toirighim, fancy, pursue, search 
closely. Hence F. Sp., etc., tory."] I. .; pi. 
fortes (-riz). If. Originally, an Irish robber or 
outlaw, one of a class noted for their outrages 
and savage cruelty. 
That Irish Papists who had been licensed to depart this 
nation, and of late years have been transplanted into Spain, 
Flanders, and other foreign parts, have nevertheless re- 
turned into Ireland, occasioning the increase of tones and 
other lawless persons. Irish State Papers, 1566. 
The frequent robberies, murders, and other notorious 
felonies committed by robbers, rapparees, and tones upon 
their keeping hath greatly discouraged the replanting of 
this kingdom (Ireland). 
Laws of William III. (1695X quoted in Ribton-Turner's 
[Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 896. 
2f. Hence, one who causes terror ; a hector ; a 
bully. 
And now I must leave the orb of Jupiter, and drop down 
a little lower to the sphere of Mars, who is termed a tory 
amongst the stars. 
Bishop, Marrow of Astrology, p. 43. (Halliuiell.) 
3. [cap.~\ A member of one of the two great 
British political parties, opposed to the Whigs 
and later to the Liberals. The precursors of the To- 
ries were the Cavaliers in the civil war period ; after the 
Restoration (1660) the old Cavalier party became the Court 
party, opposed to the Country party, and to these the terms 
Tory and Whig were respectively applied by their oppo- 
nents about 1679 : the word was used in reproach, through 
a desire to identify the members of the Court party with the 
supporters of alleged papistic measures, in allusion to the 
Irish outlaws (see def. 1). The Tories supported heredi- 
tary divine right and opposed toleration of Dissenters, and 
after the Revolution of 1688 their radical wing was Jaco- 
bite. Later they upheld the authority of the crown (espe- 
cially in the reign of George III.), and in general in later 
years they stood out for maintaining the existing order of 
things in church and state. They opposed the Reform 
Bill, and about the same time (1832) the name Tory began 
to be superseded by Conservative. (See conservative, 3.) 
The word Tory, however, is still in common use. 
He who draws his pen for one party must expect to make 
enemies of the other. For wit and fool are consequents 
of Whig and Tory; and every man is a knave or an ass to 
the contrary side. 
Dryden, Abs. and Achit, To the Reader. 
There is hardly a whig in Ireland who would allow a 
potato and butter-milk to a reputed tory. 
Swtft, Letter, Sept. 11, 1726. 
