ordeal
21ordeal — or|deal [ ɔr dil ] noun count * an extremely unpleasant experience, especially one that lasts a long time: They have suffered a terrible ordeal. Children will no longer have to go through the ordeal of giving evidence in court …
22ordeal — noun Etymology: Middle English ordal, from Old English ordāl; akin to Old High German urteil judgment, Old English dāl division more at deal Date: before 12th century 1. a primitive means used to determine guilt or innocence by submitting the… …
23ordeal — [OE] The ‘meting out of judgement’ is the etymological notion immediately underlying ordeal, but at a more primitive level still than that it denotes simply ‘distribution, giving out shares’. It comes ultimately from prehistoric Germanic… …
24ordeal — noun the hostages survived the ordeal Syn: unpleasant experience, painful experience, trial, tribulation, nightmare, trauma, hell (on earth), misery, trouble, difficulty, torture, torment, agony …
25ordeal — [ɔːˈdiːl] noun [C] an extremely unpleasant experience They have suffered a terrible ordeal.[/ex] …
26ordeal — [OE] The ‘meting out of judgement’ is the etymological notion immediately underlying ordeal, but at a more primitive level still than that it denotes simply ‘distribution, giving out shares’. It comes ultimately from prehistoric Germanic… …
27ordeal — n. 1 a painful or horrific experience; a severe trial. 2 hist. an ancient esp. Germanic test of guilt or innocence by subjection of the accused to severe pain or torture, survival of which was taken as divine proof of innocence. Phrases and… …
28Ordeal by Innocence —   …
29Ordeal bean — Ordeal Or de*al ([^o]r d[ e]*al), n. [AS. ord[=a]l, ord[=ae]l, a judgment; akin to D. oordeel, G. urteil, urtheil; orig., what is dealt out, the prefix or being akin to [=a] compounded with verbs, G. er , ur , Goth. us , orig. meaning, out. See… …
30Ordeal root — Ordeal Or de*al ([^o]r d[ e]*al), n. [AS. ord[=a]l, ord[=ae]l, a judgment; akin to D. oordeel, G. urteil, urtheil; orig., what is dealt out, the prefix or being akin to [=a] compounded with verbs, G. er , ur , Goth. us , orig. meaning, out. See… …
