tor·ture 
(tôrchər)
(tôrchər)n.
1. Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.
2. Excruciating physical or mental pain; agony: the torture suffered by inmates in the camp.
3. An experience or cause of severe pain or anguish: "Just to watch them handling thick woolen winter coats in that heat was, for me, a torture" (Arthur Miller).
tr.v. tor·tured, tor·tur·ing, tor·tures
1. To subject (a person or animal) to torture.
2. To bring great physical or mental pain upon (another). See Synonyms at afflict.
3. To overwork, misinterpret, or distort: torture a metaphor throughout an essay; torture a rule to make it fit a case.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin tortūra, from Latin tortus, past participle of torquēre, to twist; see terkw- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
tortur·er n.