water cure

hydropathy; hydrotherapy.

a method of torture in which the victim is forced to drink great quantities of water.

Origin of water cure

First recorded in 1835–45

He threw away his cigar, and jumped the fence into the Water-cure grounds.

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science |Various
But I have personally no sympathy with the baigneurs who find such a water-cure place as Royat dull.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93, September 24, 1887 |Various
This reminds me o the water-cure at the pen, he said, an then set his teeth.

Friar Tuck |Robert Alexander Wason
Within the past three years the strait-jacket, the water-cure and the hooks, once so freely used, have not been tolerated.

'The System,' as uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution |Franklin Hichborn

In the water-cure the waist bandage is changed in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, and on going to bed.

Every Man his own Doctor |R. T. Claridge

water cure

med a nontechnical name for hydropathy, hydrotherapy

informal a form of torture in which the victim is forced to drink very large amounts of water