n.
1. Fatal injury or ruin: "Hath some fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane?" George Herbert.
2.
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.
3. A deadly poison.
[Middle English, destroyer, from Old English bana; see gwhen- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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.The Essays by Bacon, Sir Francis
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