Word Finder - ordeal

definition

A painful or trying experience.

definition

A trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused.

definition

The poisonous ordeal bean or Calabar bean

This must have been quite an ordeal for her.

She had done nothing but cry, complain and faint since this ordeal had begun.

There was also a considerable amount of new legislatiofl with the object of protecting the minor subjects of the crown, and the system of trial by jurors was advanced to the detriment of the absurd old practices of trial by ordeal and trial by wager of battle.

The eight-hour ordeal to get there was worth the ten-minute conversation.

Cynthia laughed, the first sign of life since the ordeal had begun.

Moreover, the Psylli would test the legitimacy of their new-born by exposing them to serpents which would not harm those of pure birth, and a similar ordeal among the Ophiogenes of Asia Minor showed whether a man was really of their kin.

Pain streaked through her, the kind of pain with no physical source.  Katie began to cry, unable to see an end to her ordeal that would mean she – or her baby – lived.  She hugged her stomach and sobbed for the loss of Rhyn, her own life, their child's.

In fact, they were probably more an obstacle than the ordeal ahead of him.

Once my telephone ordeal was over, everything was out of our hands.

Trial by ordeal and domestic slavery are still among the recog nized institutions.

This is the language of the ancient ordeal which as a test of innocence required the accused to touch or still better to eat a holy element.

The long ordeal in the desert was over, but what waited for her now was uncertain.

Pulpit warfare was waged between Savdnarola and his opponents, and the matter ended in his being forbidden to preach and in a proposed ordeal by fire, which, however, never came off.

By the end of this ordeal, she'd be an alcoholic.

He appears to have submitted successfully to the ordeal of fire, and the alleged relationship was acknowledged by Sigurd on condition that Harald did not claim any share in the government of the kingdom during his lifetime or that of his son Magnus.

It was related how Seth had brought an accusation against Osiris in the great judgment hail of Heliopolis, and how the latter, helped by the skilful speaker Thoth, had emerged from the ordeal acquitted and triumphant.

Exhaustion from the ordeal was taking its toll on Carmen as well, but she tried to stay awake.

You have been through quite an ordeal.

As Savonarola resolutely declined the trial, the Franciscan deputed a convert, one Giuliano dei Rondinelli, to go through the ordeal with Fra Domenico.

Bruises in the shape of fingers reminded her of the ordeal.

One must wonder if the young ladies realize the ordeal that lies before them.

Well, it seems you have been through quite an ordeal.

Thus it happened that pipes and joints intended for a low-pressure supply were subjected, not only to high pressure, but to the trying ordeal of suddenly varying pressures.

They stumbled from the mine, hugging one another in the sunshine, thankful that the frightening ordeal was over.

This duty was about as pleasant as a stick in the eye in Dean's mind, but the interrupted householders were uniformly pleasant to him, making the necessary ordeal nearly tolerable.

The only sound Sarah had made throughout the ordeal was an occasional sniff, as she attempted to wipe away the product of her distress with the back of her hand.

We are here to support you through this terrible ordeal you have been through.

In fact, if you think your marriage is over, you should still consider getting some counseling to help you through the ordeal.

It seemed hours I was left alone until shouting voices announced the end of our ordeal.

She didn't know if he'd welcome the gift or if his recent ordeal left him more jaded toward his past.

I know it's a lot to ask after your … ordeal.

This sort of laser hair removal can be a godsend for people who are tired of waxing and plucking and dealing with the ingrown hair ordeal.

Home buying can be an exhilarating, exhausting, and expensive ordeal, but there are few things that make people prouder than owning their own house.

Although foreclosure laws vary by state, after the auction the borrower is not allowed to simply walk away from the entire ordeal.

Pregnant celebs continue to be a topic of fascination, and considering the harrowing ordeal Hudson has faced, her story is one of particular interest.

Dean asked, still upset at Cynthia Byrne's unnecessary ordeal.

Alexius, in order to escape such an ordeal, resorted to the abject expedient of disabling his right hand by a pistol-shot.

It is state-law; alike self-help, blood-feud, marriage by capture, are absent; though family solidarity, district responsibility, ordeal, the lex talionis, are primitive features that remain.

Thenceforward the remnant of the Jews who survived the fiery ordeal formed a church rather than a nation or a state, and the Pharisees exercised an unchallenged supremacy.

Happily the danger passed off without calling for such an ordeal.

He tried to appease the Norfolk detective by saying no permanent harm had been done and even Mrs. Byrne seemed to have made it through the ordeal.

Is a wild night with Leland such a ter­rible ordeal?

In matters beyond the knowledge of men, as the guilt or innocence of an alleged wizard or a suspected wife, the ordeal by water was used.

The crusades subjected the Jews to this ordeal.

Thereupon Ormazd will hold a judicium universale, in the form of a general ordeal, a great test of all mankind by fire and molten metal, and will judge strictly according to justice, punish the wicked, and assign to the good the hoped-for reward.

The plan of campaign which found favour with the Boers, when they determined to put their differences with Great Britain to the test by the ordeal of the sword, was to attack all the principal British towns adjacent to their own borders; at the same time to despatch a field army of the necessary dimensions to invade and reduce Natal, where the largest British garrison existed.

A creature of the Arrabbiati, a Franciscan friar named Francesco di Puglia, challenged Savonarola to prove the truth of his doctrines by the ordeal of fire.

It was now late in the day, and a storm shower gave the authorities a pretext for declaring that heaven was against the ordeal.

Royal authority, sheriffs, juries and witnesses gradually superseded ordeal, compurgation, and trial by battle, though even barons long retained the right of " pit and gallows."

Camden replied to Brooke in an appendix to the fifth edition of the Britannia, published in 1600, and his reputation came through the ordeal untarnished.