An instrument of torture for squeezing the fingers, similar to a thumbscrew.

Chiefly in plural with the. An instrument of torture designed to compress the thumbs. Cf. thumbscrew, n. 2, thumbikins, n. Now chiefly historical.

With plural and singular agreement. = thumbscrew, n. 2.

(a) a kind of pillory in which the offender is secured by the fingers; = finger pillory n.; (b) a device formerly used as a school punishment for…

a kind of pillory in which an offender is secured by the fingers, typically consisting of a piece of wood containing holes into which the fingers…

(a) a kind of lock which is opened by pressing with the thumb; (b) plural = thumbscrew, n. 2.

An instrument of torture by which one or both thumbs were compressed; cf. thumbikins, n.; also called ‘the screws’ (screw, n.1 7).