bane
/beɪn/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of bone
Forms banes baning baned banest banedst baneth
- noun (countable) A cause of misery or ruin. “the bane of one’s existence”
- noun (countable, archaic) Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.
- noun (uncountable, chiefly poetic) Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.
- noun (uncountable, UK, dialectal, veterinary medicine) A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.
- noun (countable) A person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.
- noun (uncountable) Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.
- verb To physically injure (someone or something); to harm, to hurt.
- verb (figurative) To cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially or spiritually injure (someone).
- verb (UK, dialectal, veterinary medicine) To cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue occurs”).
- verb (obsolete) To kill (a person or animal), especially by poison.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
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.
* 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”)
From Northern Middle English ban, from bon (“bone”), from Old English bān, from Proto-West Germanic *bain (“bone; leg”), from Proto-Germanic *bainą (“bone; leg”), from *bainaz (“straight”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to glow, shine”) (in the sense of a straight beam of light), or *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike”) (in the sense of an object for striking), or *bʰeyH-n- (“pole; straight line”).
* As an English surname, from the archaic noun bane (“murderer”).
* As an English, Scottish, and Irish surname, variant of Bain.
* As a French surname, from the noun banne (“wicker basket”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality. [Obs.
- noun Destruction; death. [Obs.]
- verb To be the bane of; to ruin. [Obs.] Fuller.
Etymology [OE. bane destruction, AS. bana murderer; akin to Icel. bani death, murderer, OHG. bana murder, bano murderer, murder, OIr. bath death, benim I strike. 1. That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality. [Obs. except in combination, as in ratsbane, henbane, etc.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bane”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details