scavenger's daughter

American  

noun

1. an instrument of torture that doubled over and squeezed the body so strongly and violently that blood was brought forth from the ears and nose: invented in 16th-century England.

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Etymology

Origin of scavenger's daughter

1555–65; scavenger, alteration of the name of its inventor, Leonard Skevington, Lieutenant of the Tower of London under Henry VIII

Example Sentences

I saw another instrument, called the scavenger's daughter.

From Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I Including His Answers to the Clergy, His Oration at His Brother's Grave, Etc., Etc. by Ingersoll, Robert Green

And I saw there at the same time another instrument, called "the scavenger's daughter," which resembles a pair of shears, with handles where handles ought to be, but at the points as well.

From Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - Latest by Ingersoll, Robert Green

"Is it of the scavenger's daughter that you speak?"

From The Dragon Painter by Fenollosa, Mary McNeil