Tortricid
(Tor"tri*cid) a. [See Tortrix.] (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to Tortix, or the family Tortricidæ.
Tortrix
(||Tor"trix) n. [NL., fr. L. torquere, tortum, to twist.]
1. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small moths of the family Tortricidæ, the larvæ of which usually
roll up the leaves of plants on which they live; — also called leaf roller.
2. (Zoöl.) A genus of tropical short- tailed snakes, which are not venomous. One species (Tortrix scytalæ)
is handsomely banded with black, and is sometimes worn alive by the natives of Brazil for a necklace.
Tortulous
(Tor"tu*lous) a. (Nat. Hist.) Swelled out at intervals like a knotted cord.
Tortuose
(Tor"tu*ose`) a. [See Tortuous.] Wreathed; twisted; winding. Loudon
Tortuoslty
(Tor`tu*os"l*ty) n. [L. tortuositas: cf. F. tortuosite.] the quality or state of being tortuous.
Tortuous
(Tor"tu*ous) a. [OE. tortuos, L. tortuosus, fr. tortus a twisting, winding, fr. torquere, tortum,
to twist: cf. F. tortueux. See Torture.]
1. Bent in different directions; wreathed; twisted; winding; as, a tortuous train; a tortuous train; a tortuous
leaf or corolla.
The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.
Macaulay. 2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful.
That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the
Jakobites.
Macaulay. 3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.]
4. (Astrol.) Oblique; — applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend
most rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat.
Infortunate ascendent tortuous.
Chaucer. —Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. — Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.
Torturable
(Tor"tur*a*ble) a. Capable of being tortured.
Torture
(Tor"ture) n. [F.,fr.L. tortura, fr. torquere, tortum, to twist, rack, torture; probably akin to Gr.
tre`pein to turn, G. drechsein to turn on a lathe, and perhaps to E. queer. Cf. Contort, Distort, Extort,
Retort, Tart, n., Torch, Torment, Tortion, Tort, Trope.]
1. Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony; torment; as, torture of mind. Shak.
Ghastly spasm or racking torture.
Milton. 2. Especially, severe pain inflicted judicially, either as punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting
a confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or
wheel.
