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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

peine forte et dure en · NOUN

Etymology

Law French, from Middle French peine forte et dure (“severe and hard punishment”).

Meanings

  1. (historical, uncountable) Crushing, an old form of punishment (torture) in which the prisoner's body was pressed with heavy weights.
    • It was a solid structure, with massy door, sooner than open which in the absence of the ‘Dominie’, we would all have willingly perished by the peine forte et dure. 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, William Wilson:

wikipedia: Law French · wikipedia: Giles Corey · wikipedia: Salem witch trials