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{%type%} Definitions

WordNet 3.0Copyright Princeton University
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Short "hint"

n. - A device designed to be turned with the fingers; Instrument of torture that crushes a finger.

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Usage examples (29)
  • The thumbscrew was a little thing, but caused great agony.
  • There was a machine called the piniwinkies -- a kind of thumbscrew, which brought blood from under the finger nails, with a pain successfully terrible.
  • Nary a thumbscrew, not so much as a used nipple-clamp.
  • To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of the Lord.
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The Open Dictionary of English is a collaborative project, based on Open Source materials, LearnThat resources, and partner APIs.
We give special thanks to our LearnThat volunteers, as well as Princeton University and Wiktionary for their Open Source word data. We're also grateful for the support given by Google, Wordnik.com, Dictionary.com, Stands4.com and YouTube, OEDILF.com, Kylescholz.com, Best-Practice.com, Forvo.com, as well as the generous Creative Commons community.