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Tort
Definitions
- 1 Twisted. obsolete
"And the firſt that came and gaue them moſt comfort was Henry Erle of Lãcaſter with yͤ wrie neck, called Tort coll [torticollis], who was brother to Thomas Erle of Lãcaſter yͭ was behedded, as ye haue heard before, who was a right vertuous & good knight as after ye ſhal here."
- 2 Synonym of tart (“sharp- or sour-tasting; (figuratively) keen, severe, sharp”) British, dialectal
- 3 Synonym of taut (“stretched tight; under tension”). British, dialectal, obsolete
"Yet holds he them with tortest rein, / That they may seize and entertain / The glance that to their glance opposes, / Like fiery honey sucked from roses."
- 4 Of a boat: watertight. British, dialectal, obsolete
- 1 A wrongful act, whether intentional or negligent, regarded as non-criminal and unrelated to a contract, which causes an injury and can be remedied in civil court, usually through the awarding of damages.
"[…] Wrong or Iniury, is in French aptly called Tort, becauſe Iniury & wrong is wreſted or crooked, being contrary to that which is right and ſtreight. […] And Britton ſaith that Tort a la ley eſt contrarye [a wrong to the law is contrary], and as aptly for the cauſe aforeſaid is iniury in English called wrong."
- 2 Clipping of tortoise. British, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, dialectal, obsolete, slang
- 3 Clipping of tortoiseshell (“a domestic cat, guinea pig, rabbit, or other animal whose fur has black, brown, and yellow markings; a tortie”). British, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, dialectal, obsolete, slang
- 4 (law) any wrongdoing for which an action for damages may be brought wordnet
- 5 An injury or wrong. obsolete
"Then gan triumphant Trompets ſovvnd on hye, / That ſent to heuen the ecchoed report / Of their nevv ioy, and happie victory / Gainſt him, that had them long oppreſt with tort, / And faſt impriſoned in ſieged fort."
Etymology
From Middle English tort (“(uncountable) wrong; (countable) an injury, a wrong”), from Old French tort (“misdeed, wrong”) (modern French tort (“an error, wrong; a fault”)), from Medieval Latin tortum (“injustice, wrong”), a noun use of a neuter singular participle form of Latin tortus (“crooked; twisted”), the perfect passive participle of torqueō (“to bend or twist awry, distort”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”). Cognates * Galician torto (“(adjective) bent; crooked; twisted; (noun, archaic) harm, offence; injustice, wrong, tort”) * Italian torto (“(adjective) bent; crooked; twisted; (noun, archaic) injustice, wrong”) * Norwegian Bokmål tort (dated, now only in fixed expressions) * Norwegian Nynorsk tort (dated, now only in fixed expressions) * Occitan tort * Old French tort (modern French tort) * Portuguese torto (“(adjective) bent; crooked; twisted; (noun, archaic) harm, offence; injustice, wrong”) * Spanish tuerto (“injury, offence”)
From Middle English tort, torte (“contorted, crooked; twisted”), from Old French tort, torte (“crooked; twisted”), or from its etymon Latin tortus (“crooked; twisted”): see further at etymology 1.
A variant of tart.
A variant of taut.
Clipping of tortoise.
Clipping of tortoiseshell.
See also for "tort"
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