banes

Noun

bane (countable and uncountable, plural banes)

1. (countable) A cause of misery or ruin.
   • the bane of one’s existence

   Synonyms:

   blight, affliction, curse, undoing, downfall

   Antonyms:

   boon

2. (archaic, countable) 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.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...
3. (poetic, uncountable) 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?[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...
4. (UK, dialectal, uncountable) A disease of sheep in which breakdown of tissue occurs; rot.
5. (countable, obsolete) 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.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...
6. (obsolete, uncountable) Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.
   • I vvill not be affraid of Death and Bane, / Till Birnane Forreſt come to Dunſinane.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...

See all 11 meanings of bane