Quick Definition
βασανιστής, οῦ, ὁ n.m. one who tortures, a tormentor, jailor
Strong's Definition
from 928; a torturer
KJV Usage: tormentor
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, m. | -οῦ
37.126 · Control, Rule · Guard, Watch Over
prison guard, torturer (derivative of βασανίζω ‘to torture,’ 38.13) a person serving as a guard in a prison, whose function was to torture prisoners as a phase of judicial examination It is difficult to know in the case of MAT 18:34 if βασανιστής is to be understood in the specific sense of ‘torturer’ (in which case it could be classified after 38.13) or only in terms of ‘prison guard.’ The use of βασανιστής in MAT 18:34 may simply be an instance of literary hyperbole. As such it may be possible to translate the expression in MAT 18:34 as ‘his master was very angry and handed him over to prison guards to torture him until he should pay back the whole amount.’
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
βασανιστής, -ov, ὁ, (Bacavitw), one who elicits the truth by the use of the rack, an inquisitor, torturer, ({Antiphon ; al.}; Dem. p. 978,11; Philo in Flace. § 11 end; [de concupise. § 1; quod omn. prob. lib. 16; Plut. an vitios. ad infel. suff. § 2]); used in Mt. xviii. 34 of a jailer (δεσμοφύλαξ Acts xvi. 23), doubtless because the business of torturing was also assigned to him.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
βασανιστής basanistēs 1x
pr. an inquisitor, tormentor; in NT a keeper of a prison, jailer, Mt. 18:34*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
* βασανιστής, -οῦ, ὁ
(< βασανίζω),
prop., a torturer; used of a gaoler, Mt 18:34.†
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
βασανιστής (basanistēs) — torturer. βᾰσᾰν-ιστής, οῦ, ὁ, examiner, questioner, torturer, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; gaoler, NT.Matt.18.34.
II. one who tests, [Refs 4th c.AD+]:—feminine βᾰσᾰν-ίστρια, examiner, ἐπῶν [Refs 5th c.BC+]