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bane - 6 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.
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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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Bane

Bane\ (b[=a]n), n. [OE. bane destruction, AS. bana murderer; akin to Icel. bani death, murderer, OHG. bana murder, bano murderer, Goth. banja stroke, wound, Gr. foney`s murderer, fo`nos murder, OIr. bath death, benim I strike. [root]31.]

1. That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality. [Obs. except in combination, as in ratsbane, henbane, etc.]

2. Destruction; death. [Obs.]

The cup of deception spiced and tempered to their bane. --Milton.

3. Any cause of ruin, or lasting injury; harm; woe.

Money, thou bane of bliss, and source of woe. --Herbert.

4. A disease in sheep, commonly termed the rot.

Syn: Poison; ruin; destruction; injury; pest.

Bane

Bane\, v. t. To be the bane of; to ruin. [Obs.] --Fuller.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : bane
Spanish: pista,
German: die Bahn,
Japanese: レーン
More Translations »

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