Definition of "agonize"

agonize

verb
third-person singular simple present agonizes, present participle agonizing, simple past and past participle agonized
1. (intransitive) To writhe with agony; to suffer violent anguish.
  Quotations
  His Touch, if tremblingly alive all o’er, / To smart, and agonize at ev’ry pore?
  1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], page 13, lines 223–24
2. (intransitive) To struggle; to wrestle; to strive desperately, whether mentally or physically.
  Quotations
  So I took a last stare round, agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely packed to hide more than a rat.
  1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 3, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934
3. (transitive) To cause agony or anguish in someone.
  Quotations
  That dreadful bill […] was one of the chief torments of her life. At all hours of the night or day it was waiting just round the corner of her consciousness, ready to spring upon her and agonise her […]
  1935, George Orwell, A Clergyman’s Daughter, page 8