an instrument for the judicial torture of criminals and suspected persons. It was a large, open, wooden frame, within which the prisoner was laid on his back upon the floor, with his wrists and ankles attached by cords to two rollers, one at each end of the frame. These rollers were moved in opposite directions by levers till the body rose to a level with the frame; questions were then put, and if the answers were not deemed satisfactory, the sufferer was gradually stretched till the bones started from their sockets. It was formerly much used by civil authorities, in the cases of traitors and conspirators, and by the members of the Inquisition, for extorting a recantation of heretical opinions.