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.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English bana slayer; cognate with Old Norse bani death, murderer, Old Frisian bona murder, Old Saxon bano murderer, Old High German bano slayer, bana death; akin to Old English benn, Gothic banja wound
before 1000; Middle English; Old English bana slayer; cognate with Old Norse bani death, murderer, Old Frisian bona murder, Old Saxon bano murderer, Old High German bano slayer, bana death; akin to Old English benn, Gothic banja wound
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To bane
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Bane
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Collins
World English Dictionary
bane1 (beɪn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a person or thing that causes misery or distress (esp in the phrase bane of one's life) |
| 2. | something that causes death or destruction |
| 3. | a. a fatal poison |
| b. (in combination): ratsbane | |
| 4. | archaic ruin or distress |
| [Old English bana; related to Old Norse bani death, Old High German bano destruction, death] | |
| bane2 (ben, beɪn) | |
| —n | |
| a Scot word for bone | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
bane
O.E. bana "killer, slayer, murderer," from P.Gmc. *banon, cognate with *banja- "wound" (cf. O.Fris. bona "murderer," O.H.G. bana "murder," O.E. benn "wound," Goth. banja "stroke, wound"), from PIE base *gwhen- "to strike, kill, wound" (cf. Avestan banta "ill"). Modern sense of "that which causes ruin
or woe" is from 1570s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
He is a bane to raccoons, hunting them fearlessly in the marshes and battling as readily in the water as on the bank.
She always spoke of herself as of the bane of her community, and the outcast and abomination of all creatures.
Endless replays can be the bane of any telecast.
Such optimism is the blessing and the bane of auroral observers.
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