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bane

 - 4 dictionary results

bane

  [beyn]
Use bane in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person or thing that ruins or spoils: Gambling was the bane of his existence.
2. a deadly poison (often used in combination, as in the names of poisonous plants): wolfsbane; henbane.
3. death; destruction; ruin.
4. Obsolete. that which causes death or destroys life: entrapped and drowned beneath the watery bane.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE bana slayer; c. ON bani death, murderer, OFris bona murder, OS bano murderer, OHG bano slayer, bana death; akin to OE benn, Goth banja wound
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bane
bane   (bān)   
n.  

  1. Fatal injury or ruin: "Hath some fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane?" (George Herbert).

    1. A cause of harm, ruin, or death: "Obedience,/Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,/Makes slaves of men" (Percy Bysshe Shelley).

    2. A source of persistent annoyance or exasperation: "The spellings of foreign names are often the bane of busy copy editors" (Norm Goldstein).

  3. A deadly poison.


[Middle English, destroyer, from Old English bana; see gwhen- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

bane 
O.E. bana "slayer, murderer," from P.Gmc. *banon, cognate with *banja- "wound" (cf. O.Fris. bona "murderer," O.H.G. bana "murder," Goth. banja "stroke, wound"), from PIE base *bhen- "to strike, wound" (cf. Avestan banta "ill"). Modern sense of "that which causes ruin or woe" is from 1577.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: bane
Pronunciation: 'bAn
Function: noun
: POISON —see HENBANE
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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