Ballentine's law dictionary. Anderson, W.S.. 1998.
ordeal — The most ancient species of trial for criminal offenses, founded upon the belief of the ancients that if a man were innocent, God would save him from death or injury when he was subjected to an ordeal. See 4 Bl Comm 342. See also Hurtado v… … Ballentine's law dictionary
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 {Deal},… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Ordeal 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… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Ordeal 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… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Ordeal tree — 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… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
hot iron ordeal — An ancient form of trial for crime … Ballentine's law dictionary
ordeal — The most ancient species of trial, in Saxon and old English law, being peculiarly distinguished by the appellation of judicium Dei, or judgment of God, it being supposed that supernatural intervention would rescue an innocent person from the… … Black's law dictionary
Ordeal — A method of trial in which the accused was given a physical test (usually painful and/or dangerous) which could be met successfully only if they were innocent. Eg. Ordeal by fire. ♦ A form of proof in a court of law, by which a divine sign of… … Medieval glossary
Ordeal, trial by — In trial by ordeal, proof of guilt or innocence was determined by God, the accused being tested by an ordeal which proved innocence if no mark was caused by the trial itself. In the laws of Athelstan anyone undergoing this trial had to be blessed … Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases
ordeal — [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… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
