inquisitor

inquisitor
    n 1: a questioner who is excessively harsh [syn: {inquisitor},
         {interrogator}]
    2: an official of the ecclesiastical court of the Inquisition
    

Inquisitor \In*quis"i*tor\, n. [L.: cf. F. inquisiteur. See
   {Inquire}.]
   1. An inquisitive person; one fond of asking questions. [R.]
      "Inquisitors are tatlers." --Feltham.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Law) One whose official duty it is to examine and
      inquire, as coroners, sheriffs, etc. --Mozley & W.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (R.C.Ch.) A member of the Court of Inquisition.
      [1913 Webster]
    

INQUISITOR. A designation of sheriffs, coroners, super visum corporis, and 
the like, who have power to inquire into certain matters. 
     2. The name, of an officer, among ecclesiastics, who is authorized to 
inquire into heresies, and the like, and to punish them. An ecclesiastical 
judge. 
    

41 Moby Thesaurus words for "inquisitor":
      Paul Pry, Peeping Tom, asker, busybody, catechist,
      cross-interrogator, cross-questioner, detective, eavesdropper,
      examiner, gossip, inquirer, inquisitionist, inquisitive,
      interlocutor, interpellator, interrogator, interrogatrix,
      interviewer, nosy Parker, opinion-sampler, poller, pollster,
      prober, pry, querier, querist, questioner, questionist, quidnunc,
      quizzer, rubberneck, rubbernecker, sampler, scopophiliac,
      secret agent, sightseer, snoop, snooper, voyeur, yenta