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n. 1. 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 gwhen- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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