THUMBSCREW

Thumbscrew

The Thumbscrew or pillywinks is a torture instrument which was first used in medieval Europe. It is a simple vice, sometimes with protruding studs on the interior surfaces. The victim's thumbs or fingers were placed in the vice and slowly crushed. The thumbscrew was also applied to crush prisoners' big toes. The crushing bars were sometimes lined with sharp metal points to puncture the thumbs and inflict greater pain in the nail beds. Larger, heavier devices based on the same design principle were applied to crush feet and ears.

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thumbscrew

Noun

  1. A screw that can be turned with the thumb and fingers
  2. An instrument of torture used to crush the fingers


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: thumbscrew
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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