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ordeal
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English Dictionary: ordeal by the DICT Development Group
3 results for ordeal
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
ordeal
n
  1. a severe or trying experience
  2. a primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control; escape was usually taken as a sign of innocence
    Synonym(s): ordeal, trial by ordeal
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Ordeal \Or"de*al\ ([ocir]r"d[esl]*[ait]l), n. [AS. ord[be]l,
      ord[aemac]l, a judgment; akin to D. oordeel, G. urteil,
      urtheil; orig., what is dealt out, the prefix or- being akin
      to [be]- compounded with verbs, G. er-, ur-, Goth. us-, orig.
      meaning, out. See {Deal}, v. & n., and cf. {Arise}, {Ort}.]
      1. An ancient form of test to determine guilt or innocence,
            by appealing to a supernatural decision, -- once common in
            Europe, and still practiced in the East and by savage
            tribes.
  
      Note: In England ordeal by fire and ordeal by water were
               used, the former confined to persons of rank, the
               latter to the common people. The ordeal by fire was
               performed, either by handling red-hot iron, or by
               walking barefoot and blindfold over red-hot plowshares,
               laid at unequal distances. If the person escaped
               unhurt, he was adjudged innocent; otherwise he was
               condemned as guilty. The ordeal by water was performed,
               either by plunging the bare arm to the elbow in boiling
               water, an escape from injury being taken as proof of
               innocence, or by casting the accused person, bound hand
               and foot, into a river or pond, when if he floated it
               was an evidence of guilt, but if he sunk he was
               acquitted. It is probable that the proverbial phrase,
               to go through fire and water, denoting severe trial or
               danger, is derived from the ordeal. See {Wager of
               battle}, under {Wager}.
  
      2. Any severe trial, or test; a painful experience.
  
      {Ordeal bean}. (Bot.) See {Calabar bean}, under {Calabar}.
  
      {Ordeal root} (Bot.) the root of a species of {Strychnos}
            growing in West Africa, used, like the ordeal bean, in
            trials for witchcraft.
  
      {Ordeal tree} (Bot.), a poisonous tree of Madagascar
            ({Tanghinia, [or] Cerbera, venenata}). Persons suspected
            of crime are forced to eat the seeds of the plumlike
            fruit, and criminals are put to death by being pricked
            with a lance dipped in the juice of the seeds.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Ordeal \Or"de*al\, a.
      Of or pertaining to trial by ordeal.
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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