iron maiden

noun

1. a medieval instrument of torture fashioned as a box in the shape of a woman, large enough to hold a human being, and studded with sharp spikes on the inside.

iron maiden

noun

1. a medieval instrument of torture, consisting of a hinged case (often shaped in the form of a woman) lined with iron spikes, which was forcibly closed on the victim

Word History and Origins

Origin of iron maiden¹

1890–95; translation of German eiserne Jungfrau

Example Sentences

The end result, constructed at Harvard, resembled the nave of a cathedral built by aliens to worship radial symmetry, or an iron maiden for punishing giant cubes.

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My body was a knot of raw nerves and nausea, my lungs crushed against my rib cage like a prisoner in an iron maiden.

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For gorehounds, the pleasure comes with each scene of graphic and fantastic carnage at the hands of contraptions that make an iron maiden look like a Sit ’n’ Spin.

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When you enter the theater, it is hanging from the flies, glittering but baleful, like a carapace or an iron maiden.

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I have not seen it, but it sounds like an iron maiden for the stovetop.

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