| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈthumb-screw, ˈthumbscrew, n.
[f. thumb n. + screw n.; cf. Ger. daumschraube.]
1. A screw with a flattened or winged head, adapted for being turned with the thumb and fingers; a butterfly screw; also a small clamp adjusted by such a screw.
1794Felton Carriages (1801) Gloss., Thumb Nut or Screw. 1805Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Pl. xxiv, On the side of the tub is a thumb screw fixed to the lever underneath, which regulates the stones. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. s.v. Screw Clamp, Small screw clamps are sometimes called thumb screws. 1908Times 22 Apr. 5/5 A thumb-screw securing the sashes had been removed.
2. An instrument of torture by which one or both thumbs were compressed; cf. thumbikins; also called ‘the screws’ (screw n.1 1 e).
[a1715Burnet Own Time xvi, Little screws of steel were made use of, that screwed the thumbs [etc.: see screw n.1 1 e]. ]1817Scott Old Mort. xxxvi, An oaken table..on which lay thumb-screws, and an iron case, called the Scottish boot. 1832G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 200 Such intellects as devised the rack and the thumb-screw. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 290 The using of racks and thumbscrews for the purpose of forcing prisoners to accuse themselves. 1859Jephson Brittany iii. 34 A grim functionary, whose countenance was suggestive of dungeons and thumb⁓screws.
▪ II. ˈthumb-screw, ˈthumbscrew, v.
[f. thumb n. + screw v., or f. prec.; evidenced earlier than the n.]
trans. To torture by screwing the thumbs; to torture with or as with thumb-screws. Hence ˈthumb-screwing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1771E. Long in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 199 He must..be thumb-screwed. 1792Gentl. Mag. LXII. i. 260/2 Think what tortures we endur'd,..Whipp'd, chain'd, thumb⁓screw'd. 1835Tait's Mag. II. 377 We tax, distrain, screw, thumb-screw, incarcerate. 1882Standard 9 Sept. 5/5 His Highness admits that a case of thumb-screwing has come to his knowledge. 1892Pall Mall G. 22 Dec. 2/2 We have little sympathy with the thriftless borrowers, but less with the thumbscrewing Shylock. |