S: (n) torture, torturing (the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason) "it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession"
S: (n) bastinado, falanga (a form of torture in which the soles of the feet are beaten with whips or cudgels)
S: (n) boot (a form of foot torture in which the feet are encased in iron and slowly crushed)
S: (n) burning (a form of torture in which cigarettes or cigars or other hot implements are used to burn the victim's skin)
S: (n) judicial torture (torture that is sanctioned by the state and executed by duly accredited officials) "the English renounced judicial torture in 1640"
S: (n) kia quen (a form of foot torture used by the Chinese in which the victim's foot was placed between three pieces of bamboo and systematically squeezed)
S: (n) kittee (a form of torture used by American Indians in which sensitive parts of the body were squeezed between two boards until the victim could bear no more)
S: (n) picket, piquet (a form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake)
S: (n) rack (a form of torture in which pain is inflicted by stretching the body)
S: (n) sensory deprivation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of all sensory input)
S: (n) sleep deprivation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of sleep)
S: (n) strappado, strapado (a form of torture in which the hands are tied behind a person's back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists, then allowed to drop until their fall is checked with a jerk by the rope)
S: (n) electric shock (the use of electricity to administer punishment or torture) "they used cattle prods to administer electric shocks"
S: (v) rack (stretch to the limits) "rack one's brains"
S: (v) rack (put on a rack and pinion) "rack a camera"
S: (v) extort, squeeze, rack, gouge, wring (obtain by coercion or intimidation) "They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss"; "They squeezed money from the owner of the business by threatening him"