tormentor

1933, Hervey Allen, Anthony Adverse, New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 6, p. 78, Her eyes rested on him for an instant like those of an accused person seeing the state tormentor approach for the first time.

1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Part 1, Section 1, p. 10, The infant […] feels only the uneasiness of the present instant, which can never be great. With regard to the future it is perfectly secure, and in its thoughtlessness and want of foresight possesses an antidote against fear and anxiety, the great tormentors of the human breast, from which reason and philosophy will in vain attempt to defend it when it grows up to a man.

1813, Charles Stewart, enclosure in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated 18 October, 1813, in William S. Dudley (editor), The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Washington D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1992, Volume 2, p. 392, Cabin furniture received onboard the U.S.F. Constellation at Washington […] 1 Cleaver and tormentors/Cook; [footnote:] A tormentor is a long iron meat fork used by sea cooks.