tort

Etymology 1

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”)

noun

1. (law) 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.
2. (obsolete) An injury or wrong.

Etymology 2

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.

adj

1. (obsolete) Twisted.

Etymology 3

A variant of tart.

adj

1. (Britain, dialectal) Synonym of tart (“sharp- or sour-tasting; (figuratively) keen, severe, sharp”)

Etymology 4

A variant of taut.

adj

1. Synonym of taut (“stretched tight; under tension”)
2. (nautical) Of a boat: watertight.

Etymology 5

Clipping of tortoise.

noun

1. (slang) Clipping of tortoise.

Etymology 6

Clipping of tortoiseshell.

noun

1. (slang) Clipping of tortoiseshell (“a domestic cat, guinea pig, rabbit, or other animal whose fur has black, brown, and yellow markings”); a tortie.