bane

(bān)

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

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

2. Archaic

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

b. A deadly poison.

[Middle English, destroyer, from Old English bana; see g^when- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bane

(beɪn)

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

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]

bane

(ben; beɪn)

a Scot word for bone

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bane

(beɪn)

n.

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.

3. death; destruction.

[before 1000; Old English bana slayer, c. Old High German bano, Old Norse bani]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

bane - something causing misery or death; "the bane of my life"

nemesis, scourge, curse

affliction - a cause of great suffering and distress

bane

noun plague, bête noire, trial, disaster, evil, ruin, burden, destruction, despair, misery, curse, pest, torment, woe, nuisance, downfall, calamity, scourge, affliction Spots can be the bane of a teenager.
support, relief, pleasure, comfort, joy, blessing, consolation, solace

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

bane

noun

1. The act of destroying or state of being destroyed:

destruction, devastation, havoc, ruin, ruination, undoing, wrack, wreck, wreckage.

2. Anything that is injurious, destructive, or fatal:

canker, contagion, poison, toxin, venom, virus.

3. Something that causes total loss or severe impairment, as of one's health, fortune, honor, or hopes:

destroyer, destruction, downfall, ruin, ruination, undoing, wrecker.

4. A cause of suffering or harm:

affliction, curse, evil, ill, plague, scourge, woe.

Translations

bane

Ruin Verderben

desgracia envenenar intoxicar maldecir maldición

kirousriesavaikeus

rovina

bane

desgraça

bane

[beɪn] N (liter) (= poison) → veneno m (fig) → plaga f, azote m
it's the bane of my life → me amarga la vida

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bane

[ˈbeɪn] n
the bane of sb's life
It is the bane of my life → C'est le drame de ma vie.
He's the bane of my life → Il est le drame de ma vie.

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bane

(= cause of distress) → Fluch m; he’s/it’s the bane of my life → er/das ist noch mal mein Ende (inf)

(old: = poison) → Gift nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bane

[beɪn] n it (or he ) is the bane of my life → è la mia rovina

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

bane

n. perdición; ruina.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Generally, such men in all deliberations find ease to be of the negative side, and affect a credit to object and foretell difficulties; for when propositions are denied, there is an end of them; but if they be allowed, it requireth a new work; which false point of wisdom is the bane of business.

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Women were ever the bane of Umslopogaas, my fostering.

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Policy, the bane of artists demanded it, and so, for the sake of a thousand issues and a common front to the common foe, he placed the love of his life upon the altar of his patriotism, and went, a broken-hearted man, into the long exile.

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But if guile with guile contend, Bane, not blessing, is the end.

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in one city there must of necessity be two, and those contrary to each other; for he makes the military the guardians of the state, and the husbandman, artisans, and others, citizens; and all those quarrels, accusations, and things of the like sort, which he says are the bane of other cities, will be found in his also: notwithstanding Socrates says they will not want many laws in consequence of their education, but such only as may be necessary for regulating the streets, the markets, and the like, while at the same time it is the education of the military only that he has taken any care of.

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my lord," answered she, "consider the country--the bane of all young women is the country.

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TEIRESIAS Not Creon, thou thyself art thine own bane.

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'It's all these cursed women!' muttered Grimsby: 'they're the very bane of the world!

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But this long debt of confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at length be paid.

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It is a singular instance of the capriciousness of the human mind, that after all the admonitions we have had from experience on this head, there should still be found men who object to the new Constitution, for deviating from a principle which has been found the bane of the old, and which is in itself evidently incompatible with the idea of GOVERNMENT; a principle, in short, which, if it is to be executed at all, must substitute the violent and sanguinary agency of the sword to the mild influence of the magistracy.

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"That 'yes' has been my bane and antidote," answered Tom, rallying for a new and still more desperate charge.

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"I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my children are the bane of my life.

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