inquisition

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of inquiring into a matter; an investigation. See Synonyms at inquiry.
2. n. Law An inquest.
3. n. Law The verdict of a judicial inquiry.
4. n. A tribunal formerly held in the Roman Catholic Church and directed at the suppression of heresy.
5. n. An investigation that violates the privacy or rights of individuals.
6. n. A rigorous, harsh interrogation.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of inquiring; close search or examination; investigation; inquiry.
2. n. In law: Inquiry by a jury impaneled by the sheriff, a coroner, or a board of commissioners, to ascertain facts necessary for judicial or legal purposes other than the trial of an action. The term is used of a proceeding, or the verdict on a proceeding, taken by a magistrate or administrative officer and a jury to inquire into a matter of fact concerning any special case, as distinguished from the trial by jury in court of a contested issue between parties.
3. n. The document embodying the result of such inquiry.
4. n. [capitalized] In the Roman Catholic Church, an ecclesiastical court, officially styled the Holy Office, for the suppression of heresy by the detection and punishment of heretics and by other means. Punishment of heretics, even by death, was practised from the fourth century onward, but the Inquisition proper arose in the twelfth century. It was developed in the thirteenth century by Pope Innocent III. and the synod of Toulouse, and extended to France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and other countries. The original inquisitors were the bishops in their own dioceses, with special assistants. On the formal organization of the Inquisition, it was placed in charge of the Dominican order, under a central governing body at Rome called the Congregation of the Holy Office. The Spanish Inquisition was reorganized and put under the control of the state at the end of the fifteenth century, and became especially noted for its severity and the number of its victims, who (as elsewhere) were burned or otherwise punished, according to sentence, by the secular authority. (See auto de fe.) The proceedings of the court were conducted with the utmost secrecy; and the confidential officers employed by it were called familiars. It was at its height in the sixteenth century, and its methods were extended into Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. The influence of the Inquisition diminished in the eighteenth century. It was suppressed in France in 1772, in Portugal under John VI. (died 1826), and in Spain finally in 1834. The Congregation of the Holy Office still exists as a branch of the papal system, but its chief concern is now with heretical literature.
5. To subject to inquisition or inquiry; investigate.

Wiktionary

1. n. an investigation or inquiry into the truth of some matter
2. n. an inquest
3. n. a questioning
4. v. obsolete To make inquisition concerning; to inquire into.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of inquiring; inquiry; search; examination; inspection; investigation.
2. n. Judicial inquiry; official examination; inquest.
3. n. The finding of a jury, especially such a finding under a writ of inquiry.
4. n. (R. C. Ch.) A court or tribunal for the examination and punishment of heretics, fully established by Pope Gregory IX. in 1235. Its operations were chiefly confined to Spain, Portugal, and their dependencies, and a part of Italy.
5. v. obsolete To make inquisition concerning; to inquire into.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a severe interrogation (often violating the rights or privacy of individuals)
2. n. a former tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church (1232-1820) created to discover and suppress heresy