▪ I. bane, n.1
(beɪn)
Forms: 1 bana, bona, 2–4 bone, (4 ban, bon, 5 boyn, 6 baene), 3– bane; 5–6 bayn(e, 6–7 bain(e.
[Common Teut.: OE. bana, bǫna = OFris. bona, OS., OHG. bano, MHG. bane, ban, ON. bani, Sw., Da. bane, ‘death, murder’:—*OTeut. banon- wk. masc. Cogn. w. Goth. banja, ON., OE. bęn:—OTeut. *banjâ- (str. fem.) wound.]
† 1. A slayer or murderer; one who causes the death or destruction of another. Obs.
| Beowulf 3491 Bona swiðe neah..fyrenum sceoteð. a 800 O.E. Chron. an. 755 Hie næfre his banan folᵹian noldon. 1205 Lay. 5806 Ȝe beoð ure bernenne bone. a 1300 Cursor M. 7634 Philistiens sal be his ban. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2147 He overcom this beste & was his ban. a 1400 Sir Perc. 1338 Who that may his bon be, Salle hafe this kyngdome and me. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 17 Caym, I sloghe my brother..I pray the..To ryn away with the bayn. 1513 More Rich. III, Wks. 51/2 The brother hath bene the brothers bane. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. iii. 73 Let Rome herselfe be bane vnto herselfe. 1682 Yorksh. Diaries (Surtees) II. 303 The Jury found the horse the bane. 1691 Blount Law Dict. s.v., I will be the Bane of him, is a common saying. [1861 H. Riley tr. Liber Alb. 86 The horse aforesaid, which had been the bane of the said boy.] |
† 2. That which causes death, or destroys life.
| a 1000 Beowulf 4413 Hilde mecas..tó bonan wurdon. c 1230 Ancr. R. 222 One þinge þet..is þauh soule bone, & wei to deadlich sunne. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 239, I was hurt right now thurgh myn yhe Into myn herte, that wol my bane be. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 1854 The water sone had bene my bane. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. App. xcvii, Brimstone thick and clouds of fiery bain. |
b. esp. Poison. Now only fig., and referred to 4. Also in comb., in names of poisonous plants or substances, as dogbane, henbane, leopard's bane, rat's bane, wolf's bane, etc., q.v.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xx. (1495) 208 Henbane is mannis bane. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 22 Bane, or poyson. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 172 Bane for the rats. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. ii. viii. 33 To the baene therein He mixed somewhat of his bloud. 1614 Chapman Odyss. i. 404 Bane to poison his sharp arrows heads. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. iii. 111 Medicines..taken inwardly against Banes and Poisons. 1713 Addison Cato v. i, My bane and antidote are both before me. 1735 Somerville Chase iv. 331 The Dog whose fatal Bite convey'd th' infectious Bane. 1862 Maurice Mor. & Met. Phil. IV. vii. §87 In which Spinoza offers at once the bane and the antidote. |
† 3. Murder, death, destruction: in later usage chiefly in phrases, catch, fetch, get, receive, take one's bane = ‘catch one's death,’ in which it passes into 2. (See esp. quot. 1655). Obs.
| c 1175 Cott. Hom. 243 Ne cepeð hi of hus gold ne selfer but ure bane. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 602 For which the folk of Thebes caught hire bane. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 816 Thai ne myght wreke thair lord bane. 1594 Greene Look. Glasse (1861) 131 'Twere best you did, for fear you catch your bane. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 60 I will not be affraid of Death and Bane, Till Birname Forrest come to Dunsinane. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. IV. 402 The two Iudges..getting their banes there, died few dayes after. |
4. That which causes ruin, or is pernicious to well-being; the agent or instrument of ruin or woe, the ‘curse.’ (Now the ordinary sense.)
| 1577 Harrison England ii. xxi. 333 Inconstancie..a bane unto all natures. 1596 Bp. Barlow Three Serm. i. 117 Cardes and Dice, the verie baine of any familie. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. iii. §37 I. 275 Bold Beggars are the Bane of the best Bounty. 1674 Marvell Reh. Transp. ii. 135 The great bane and scandal of the Church. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 9 ¶2 Those Rogues, the Bane to all excellent Performances, the Imitators. 1791 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 186 Theoretic plans of constitution have been the bane of France. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xxxiv. (1876) 378 She who had been the bane of his life. 1858 Holland Titcomb's Lett. vii. 132 Selfishness is the bane of all life. |
5. Ruin, fatal mischief; woful or hapless fate; harm, woe. Chiefly poetical.
| c 1400 Judicium (1822) 2 For deds that I haue done..I must abide my boyn. 1594 Greene Look. Glasse (1861) 117 That sweet boy that wrought bright Venus bane. 1633 G. Herbert Forerunners iv. in Temple 171 Hath some fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane? 1866 Kingsley Herew. Prel. 3 He finds out..for his weal and his bane that, etc. |
6. A disease in sheep, the ‘rot.’
| 1859 in Worcester. |
7. Comb., as bane-touch.
| 1649 Selden Laws of Eng. i. xxxvii. (1739) 56 Men being weary of such bane-touches, the Clergy that cried it up, their successors cried it down. |
▪ II. † bane, n.2 Obs.
[See ban, banns.]
A proclamation of a marriage; a prelude of a play. In the latter sense more freq. in pl. banes, now banns.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 22 Bane of a pley [1499 or mariage], Banna, coragium [1499 preludium]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 20 Bane (v.r. Bayne) of a play; preludium, proludium. |
▪ III. bane, v. arch.
Also 7 bain, (baen).
[f. bane n.1]
† 1. trans. To kill: said esp. of poison. Obs.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 426 Aconit that baneth, or killeth Panthers. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxv. (1612) 119 Poysned by a Monke, that baend himselfe, that Iohn might dye. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 46 If my house be troubled with a Rat, And I..giue ten thousand Ducates To haue it bain'd? |
2. To harm, hurt, injure, poison: a. physically.
| 1587 Turberv. Disprayse Wom. (R.) Hidden hookes..To bane thee when thou bite. 1615 Latham Falconry (1633) 102 Surfeited in their bodies, and also baned in their liuers. a 1632 G. Herbert Country Parson v. (T.) If a shepherd knew not which grass will bane, or which not. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 526 The Smoak..will bane them. 1827 Keble Chr. Year 5th Sund. Easter, For what shall heal, when holy water banes? |
b. morally or socially.
| 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 71 Couetousnesse..baneth our Gentlemen. 1643 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea iv. (1652) 61 To be poison to them to have baned their soules. |
▪ IV. bane
obs. form of bain adv. readily, and bone.