source: By Diebold Schilling the Younger - http://www.medievalists.net/2017/03/weight-love-anglo-saxon-cold-water-ordeals/, Public Domain

1. a painful or horrific experience, especially a protracted one:

«…という» 辛い体験, 恐ろしい経験, 試練 «of»

e.g. the ordeal of having to give evidence.

2. historical an ancient test of guilt or innocence by subjection of the accused to severe pain, survival of which was taken as divine proof of innocence:

〘史〙 試罪, 神判〘苦痛を与え, その反応で有罪か否かを決断する〙

e.g. ordeals conducted in the twelfth century

e.g. mass noun : ordeal by fire.

Old English ordāl, ordēl, of Germanic origin; related to German urteilen ‘give judgement’, from a base meaning ‘share out’. The word is not found in Middle English (except once in Chaucer's Troilus); modern use of ordeal (sense 2) began in the late 16th century, whence ordeal (sense 1) (mid 17th century).