Not quite right?
"Search similar patterns."
P_________
Definitions
A torture device for squeezing the fingers; a thumbscrew.
Word origin
From Middle English pirewinkes (“instrument of torture for squeezing the thumbs, thumbscrew”) [and other forms]; further origin unknown. It has been suggested that the word is a variant of Middle English pervink, pervinke (“periwinkle (plant; Vinca minor or Vinca major); (figuratively) evil man”), but the Oxford English Dictionary doubts this due to the difference in meaning. Compare Swedish pille-, related to pilla (“fiddle with the fingers”).
Used in a sentence
“They prick us and they pine us, and they pit us on the pinnywinkles for witches; [...]”
“[S]end me that hag hither; she shall avouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or the pilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger-joints.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer0 curated clues
No curated clues for pilliwinks yet.