torment

Etymology

From Middle English torment, from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum (“something operated by twisting”), from torquere (“to twist”).

noun

1. (obsolete) A catapult or other kind of war-engine.
2. Torture, originally as inflicted by an instrument of torture.
3. Any extreme pain, anguish or misery, either physical or mental.
   He was bitter from the torments of the divorce.

verb

1. (transitive) To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex but weaker than to torture.)
   The child tormented the flies by pulling their wings off.
   Moyes, who never won a derby at Liverpool in 11 years as Everton manager, did not find the Etihad any more forgiving as City picked United apart in midfield, where Toure looked in a different class to United's £27.5m new boy Marouane Fellaini, and in defence as Aguero tormented Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. 22 September 2013, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport
   But the divine children were both noisy and mischievous. They tormented their venerable grandmother with their shrill uproar and tricky behaviour. 1913, Lewis Spence, chapter V, in The Myths of Mexico and Peru