ordeal

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A difficult or painful experience, especially one that severely tests character or endurance. See Synonyms at trial.
2. n. A method of trial in which the accused was subjected to physically painful or dangerous tests, the result being regarded as a divine judgment of guilt or innocence.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A form of trial to determine guilt or innocence, formerly practised in Europe, and still in parts of the East and by various savage tribes. It consisted in testing the effect of fire, water, poison, etc., upon the accused. Well-known fire-ordeals in England were the handling of red-hot irons, or the walking over heated plowshares. A common form of the water-ordeal was the casting of the accused into water: he was considered innocent if he sank, guilty if he floated. The practice of “ducking witches” is a survival of this water-ordeal, and the phrase “to go through fire and water” probably alludes to those customs. These ordeals were abolished in England in the reign of Henry III., but the wager of battle remained. The ordeal of poison-water is common in Africa; that of burning candles, in Burma; that of eating rice, in Siam, etc.
2. n. A severe trial; trying circumstances; a severe test of courage, endurance, patience, etc.
3. n. Synonyms Proof, experiment, touchstone.
4. Pertaining to trial by ordeal.

Wiktionary

1. n. A painful or trying experience.
2. n. A trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An ancient form of test to determine guilt or innocence, by appealing to a supernatural decision, -- once common in Europe, and still practiced in the East and by savage tribes.
2. n. Any severe trial, or test; a painful experience.
3. adj. Of or pertaining to trial by ordeal.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a severe or trying experience
2. n. a primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control; escape was usually taken as a sign of innocence