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bane

noun
/beɪn/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *banô Proto-West Germanic *banō Old English bana Middle English bane English bane The noun is derived from Middle English bane (“person or thing that destroys life, murderer, slayer; person who destroys the soul; destruction of life, death, doom; poison”), from Old English bana (“person or thing that causes death, murderer”), from Proto-West Germanic *banō, from Proto-Germanic *banô (“killer, murderer, slayer; death, bane”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to slay, kill; to strike”). The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌾𐌰 (banja, “wound”) * Old Frisian bona (“death; murder”) * Old Norse bani (Danish bane (“death; murder”), Icelandic bani (“bane, death”), Swedish bane (“death; murder”)), Old Norse ben (“(moral) wound”) * Old English ben, benn (“mortal injury; wound”) * Old High German bano (“death”) (Middle High German ban, bane) * Old Saxon bano (“death; murder”), beni (“mortal injury; wound”)

  1. inherited from *gʷʰen-✻ — “to slay, kill; to strike”
  2. inherited from *banô✻ — “killer, murderer, slayer; death, bane”
  3. inherited from *banō✻
  4. inherited from bana — “person or thing that causes death, murderer”
  5. inherited from bane — “person or thing that destroys life, murderer, slayer; person who destroys the soul; destruction of life, death, doom; poison”

Definitions

  1. A cause of misery or ruin.

    • the bane of one’s existence
    • Money, thou bane of bliſſe, & ſourſe of vvo, / VVhence com'ſt thou, that thou art ſo freſh and fine? / I knovv thy parentage is baſe and lovv: / Man found thee poore and dirtie in a mine.
    • This is the great bane and ſcandal of the Church, that ſuch Livings as more immediately belong to it ſhould be the vvorſt ſupplyed, […]

  2. Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances

    Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.

    • In dairie no cat, / Laie bane for a rat. / […] / Take heede how thou laieſt, the bane for the rats, / for poiſoning ſeruant, thy ſelfe and thy brats.

  3. Misery, woe

    Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.

    • Hath ſome fond lover tic'd [i.e., enticed] thee to thy bane? / And vvilt thou leave the Church, and love a ſtie?
    • He finds out, soon enough for his weal and his bane, that he is stronger than Nature: and right tyrannously and irreverently he lords it over her, clearing, delving, dyking, building, without fear or shame.
  4. ›+ 9 more definitions

    1. A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs

      A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.

    2. A person or thing that causes death or destruction

      A person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.

      • We haue alſo had experience yͭ the deſire of a kingdõe [kingdome] knoweth no kindred. The brother hath bene the brothers bane.
      • Let Rome her ſelfe bee bane vnto her ſelfe, / And ſhee vvhome mightie kingdomes curſie [curtsey] too, / Like a forlorne and deſperate caſt avvay, / Doe ſhamefull execution on her ſelfe.
      • [T]he broad flaſhing skies / VVith brimſtone thick and clouds of fiery bain / Shall meet vvith raging Etna's and Veſuvius flame.

    3. Death

      Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.

      • I vvill not be affraid of Death and Bane, / Till Birnane Forreſt come to Dunſinane.
      • [A] great depopulation happened [due to the plague], at the Aſſiſes of Perſons of quality, and the tvvo Judges, Baron Yates, and Baron Rigby getting their banes there, died fevv dayes later.

    4. To physically injure (someone or something)

      To physically injure (someone or something); to harm, to hurt.

      • Think when thou ſéeſt the baite whereon is thy delite, / That hidden Hookes are hard at hande to bane thee when thou bite.
      • For what shall heal, when holy water banes? / Or who may guide / O'er desert plains / Thy lov'd yet sinful people wandering wide, […]

    5. To cause (someone) misery or ruin

      To cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially or spiritually injure (someone).

    6. To cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue…

      To cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue occurs”).

    7. To kill (a person or animal), especially by poison.

      • Aconit is of two ſortes (as Dioſcorides writeth) the one is named Aconitum Pardalianches, that is to ſay, Aconite that baneth, or killeth Panthers.
      • VVhat if my houſe be troubled vvith a Rat, / And I be pleas'd to giue ten thouſand ducats / To have it baind?
      • Then he, vvhil'ſt he in progreſſe did at Svvinhed Abbey lye, / VVas poyſoned by a Monke, that baend himſelfe that Iohn might dye.

    8. Alternative spelling of bone.

      • If meate or drinke thou never gavest nane, / Every night and alle: / The fire will burn thee to the bare bane; / And Christe receive thye saule.

    9. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bane. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA