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; also with Gr. φόνος, φονή, murder, slaughter, φονεύς killer, murderer.]
† 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 folʓian noldon.
c. 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. Shaks., 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, trans. 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.
a. 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. trans. 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. Philos., 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. Shaks., 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. J. G. 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.
