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''bane'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260606185347-00-⌔

bane - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

bane (countable and uncountable, plural banes)

  • (countable) A cause of misery or ruin.
    • ✤ Synonyms: blight, affliction, curse, undoing, downfall
    • ✤ Antonym: boon
    • ✤ 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.1
    • ✤ 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
    • ✤ All that I apprehend is, that dear Numps will be angry I have published these lines [of his poem]; not that he has any reason[to] be ashamed of them, but for fear of those rogues, the bane to all excellent performances, the imitators.3
    • ✤ She, who had been the bane of his life, blighting his hope, and awarding him, for love and domestic happiness, long mourning and cheerless solitude, he treated with the respect a good son might offer a kind mother.4
    • ✤ At Barking, previously the bane of L.T.S. operating staff, the new works have now simplified the working of traffic from four converging routes in the area.5
  • (countable, archaic) Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.
    • ✤ For my part I would rather counſell you to deſtroy your Rattes and Miſe with Traps, Banes, or Weeſels: for beſides the ſluttiſhneſſe & lothſomeneſſe of the Catte (you know what ſhe layes in the Malt heape) ſhe is moſt daungerous and pernicious among children, as I mee ſelf haue had good experience.6
    • ✤ 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.7
    • ✤ Take this (he gaue a folded cloth and to the bane therein/he mixed ſomewhat of his blood) this ſame (quoth he) ſhall win/To thee again the Husbands loue when he ſhall it eſtrange:/For out of doubt, I know it I, he takes delight in change.8
    • ✤ [H]e traueld through the vvatrie dreads,/For bane to poiſon his ſharpe arrovves heads,/That death, but toucht, cauſde; […]9
    • ✤ Thus am I doubly arm’d; my Death and Life,/My Bane and Antidote are both before me: […]10
  • (uncountable, chiefly poetic) 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?11
    • ✤ 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.12
  • (uncountable, UK, dialectal, veterinary medicine) A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.
  • (obsolete)
    • (countable) 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.13
      • ✤ 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.14
      • ✤ [T]he broad flaſhing skies/VVith brimſtone thick and clouds of fiery bain/Shall meet vvith raging Etna’s and Veſuvius flame.15
      • ✤ Beside him lies the bane of his life,
        dead from knife-wounds.        16
    • (uncountable) Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.
      • ✤ I vvill not be affraid of Death and Bane,/Till Birnane Forreſt come to Dunſinane.17
      • ✤ [I]f now again intoxicated and moaped with theſe royal, and therefore ſo delicious becauſe royal rudiments of bondage, the cup of deception, ſpiced and tempered to their bane, they ſhould deliver up themſelves to theſe glozing words and illuſions of him, vvhoſe rage and utmoſt violence they have ſuſtained, and overcome ſo nobly.18
      • ✤ [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.19
      • ✤ Doctor[William] VVhitaker returning from Lambeth Conference, brought home vvith him the bane of his health, contracted there by hard and late ſtudying and vvatching in a very cold VVinter.20

Verb

bane (third-person singular simple present banes, present participle baning, simple past and past participle baned) (transitive)

  • (archaic)
    • 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.21
      • ✤ Novv if a ſhepherd knovv not vvhich graſs vvill bane, or vvhich not, hovv is he fit to be a ſhepherd? VVherefore the Parſon hath throughly canvaſſed al the particulars of humane actions, at leaſt thoſe vvhich he obſerveth are moſt incident to his Pariſh.22
      • ✤ For what shall heal, when holy water banes?/Or who may guide/O’er desert plains/Thy lov’d yet sinful people wandering wide, […]23
    • (figurative) To cause (someone) misery or ruin; to socially or spiritually injure (someone).
      • ✤ It[covetousness] annoyeth our Phiſitions, it infecteth our Diuines, it choaketh our Lawiers, it woundeth our Farmers, it baneth our Gentlemen, it murdereth our Tradeſmen, it bewitcheth our Merchants, it ſtingeth our Marriners. Oh couetouſneſſe, couetouſneſſe: it is the poyſon of all things, the wound of Chriſtianitie, the bane of all goodneſſe.24
  • (UK, dialectal, veterinary medicine) To cause (sheep) a disease, especially the rot (“a disease in which breakdown of tissue occurs”).
  • (obsolete) 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.25
    • ✤ VVhat if my houſe be troubled vvith a Rat,/And I be pleas’d to giue ten thouſand ducats/To have it baind?26
    • ✤ Then he, vvhil’ſt he in progreſſe did at Svvinhed Abbey lye,/VVas poyſoned by a Monke, that baend himſelfe that Iohn might dye.27

Noun

bane (plural banes)

  • (chiefly Scotland) 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.28

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /beɪn/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Audio (General American): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

🖼️ ➺

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”),29 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”),30 probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ﹡gʷʰen- (“to slay, kill; to strike”).

The verb is derived from the noun.31

Etymology 2

From Northern Middle English ban, from bon (“bone”),32 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”).

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. [1633], George Herbert, “Avarice”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 69: ↩

  2. 1673, Andrew Marvel[l], The Rehearsall Transpros’d: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, page 148: ↩

  3. 1709 May 11 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele], “Saturday, April 30, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 9; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume I, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 55: ↩

  4. 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Malevola”, in Villette. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 143–144: ↩

  5. 1961 September, B. Perren, “The Tilbury Line Serves Industrial North Thameside”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 556: ↩

  6. 1577, Conradus Heresbachius [i.e., Konrad Heresbach], compiler, “The Third Booke, of Feeding, Breeding, and Curing of Cattell”, in Barnabe Googe, transl., Fovre Bookes of Husbandry, […]: Conteyning the Whole Arte and Trade of Husbandry, with the Antiquitie, and Commendation thereof. […], London: […] Richard Watkins, →OCLC, folio 156, verso: ↩

  7. 1580, Thomas Tusser, “Dairie”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], London: […] Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], →OCLC, stanza 6, folio 71, recto: ↩

  8. 1586, William Warner, “The Second Booke. Chapter VIII.”, in Albions England. Or Historicall Map of the Same Island: […], London: […] George Robinson [and R. Ward] for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 29: ↩

  9. 1614–1615, Homer, “The First Booke of Homers Odysses”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC, page 10: ↩

  10. 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 57: ↩

  11. [1633], George Herbert, “The Forerunners”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 171: ↩

  12. 1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “Prelude. Of the Fens.”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 4: ↩

  13. c. 1513 (date written), Thomas More, “The History of King Richard the Thirde (Vnfinished) […]”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 51, column 2: ↩

  14. c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K3, recto: ↩

  15. 1647, Henry More, “Psychathanasia or The Second Part of the Song of the Soul, Treating of the Immortality of Souls, Especially Mans Soul. Democritus Platonissans, or An Essay upon the Infinity of Worlds out of Platonick Principles. […].”, in Philosophicall Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the University, →OCLC, stanza 97, page 215: ↩

  16. 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 91: ↩

  17. c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 149, column 2: ↩

  18. 1650, [John Milton], “Intitled to the Prince of Wales”, in ΈΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΑΣΤΗΣ [Éikonoklastēs]. […], new (2nd) edition, London: […] G. Kearsly, […], published 1770, →OCLC, pages 272–273: ↩

  19. 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section III. To Mrs. Anne Danvers of Chelsey.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, book IX, page 110: ↩

  20. 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section VII”, in The History of the University of Cambridge, since the Conquest, [London]: [[…] Iohn Williams […]], →OCLC, paragraph 18, page 151: ↩

  21. 1567, George Turbervil[l]e, “Disprayse of Women that Allure and Loue Not”, in Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, with a Discourse of the Friendly Affections of Tymetes to Pyndara His Ladie. […], London: […] Henry Denham, →OCLC, folio 61, recto: ↩

  22. a. 1634 (date written), Geo[rge] Herbert, “The Parsons Accessary Knowledges”, in A Priest to the Temple, or, The Countrey Parson His Character, and Rule of Holy Life. […], London: […] T[homas] Maxey for T[imothy] Garthwait, […], published 1652, →OCLC, page 16: ↩

  23. 1827, [John Keble], “Fifth Sunday after Easter. Rogation Sunday.”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B] y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 175: ↩

  24. 1601, Arthur Dent, The Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen. […], London: […] Robert Dexter, […], →OCLC, page 80: ↩

  25. 1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of Aconitum”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 3rd part (Medicinal Rootes, and Herbes, that Purge the Body, also of Noysome Weedes, and Dangerous Plantes), page 424: ↩

  26. c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], signature H, recto: ↩

  27. 1602, William Warner, “The Fifth Booke. Chapter XXV.”, in Albions England. A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants thereof: […], 5th edition, London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 119: ↩

  28. a. 1600 (date written), “A Lyke-Wake Dirge”, in Walter Scott, editor, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: […], volume I, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] James Ballantyne, for T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and sold by Manners and Miller, and A[rchibald] Constable, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Historical Ballads), page 234: ↩

  29. “bāne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. ↩

  30. Compare “bane, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “bane, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. ↩

  31. “bane, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025. ↩

  32. “bōn, n. (1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. ↩

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