Wiktionary
thumbikins
n. An instrument of torture for compressing the thumb; a thumbkin or thumbscrew.
Usage examples of "thumbikins".
Old Pappenheimer shut him up with a ton of metal, and threatened to put the thumbikins upon him unless he changed it into gold pieces.
The sulky dogs would rather have three twists of a rack, or the thumbikins for an hour, than pay out a denier for their own feudal father and liege lord.
Mr Bond, all the old Scottish pleasures-the thumbikins and pilniewinks, and, of course, the boots.