thumbscrew
/ˈθʌmˌskruː/
noun
- A screw with a flattened head that can be turned by the thumb and forefinger.
- The lamp's bracket is secured with a thumbscrew.
- She adjusted the microscope's focus using the thumbscrew.
- He tightened the thumbscrew on the clamp.
- An instrument of torture that crushes the thumbs, used historically.
- The thumbscrew was a brutal device used during the Inquisition.
- Prisoners were threatened with the thumbscrew to force confessions.
- The museum displayed a medieval thumbscrew in the torture exhibit.
- Something that causes pressure or coercion.
- The deadline felt like a thumbscrew tightening every day.
- The new tax law is a thumbscrew on small businesses.
- The boss applied the thumbscrew to get the team to work faster.