Cyphonismus, from κυφος, which has various significations; derived from κυφος, crooked: a kind of torture or punishment in use among the ancients.

The learned are at a loss to determine what it was. Some will have it to be that mentioned by St Jerom in his Life of Paul the Hermit, chap. 2, which consisted in smearing the body over with honey, and thus exposing the person, with his hands tied, to the warm sun, to invite the flies and other vermin to persecute him.