'Scourge' definitions:
Definition of 'scourge'
(from WordNet)
noun
A whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic humor) [syn: scourge, flagellum]
noun
noun
A person who inspires fear or dread; "he was the terror of the neighborhood" [syn: terror, scourge, threat]
verb
Punish severely; excoriate
verb
Whip; "The religious fanatics flagellated themselves" [syn: flagellate, scourge]
verb
Cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion" [syn: lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge]
Definition of 'Scourge'
From: GCIDE
- Scourge \Scourge\, n. [F. escourg['e]e, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriare to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- 1. A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [1913 Webster]
- Up to coach then goes The observed maid, takes both the scourge and reins. --Chapman. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Hence, a means of inflicting punishment, vengeance, or suffering; an infliction of affliction; a punishment. [1913 Webster]
- Sharp scourges of adversity. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- What scourge for perjury Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Scourge'
From: GCIDE
- Scourge \Scourge\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scourged; p. pr. & vb. n. Scourging.] [From Scourge, n.: cf. OF. escorgier.]
- 1. To whip severely; to lash. [1913 Webster]
- Is it lawful for you to scourge a . . . Roman? --Acts xxii. 25. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To punish with severity; to chastise; to afflict, as for sins or faults, and with the purpose of correction. [1913 Webster]
- Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. --Heb. xii. 6. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To harass or afflict severely. [1913 Webster]
- To scourge and impoverish the people. --Brougham. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'scourge'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- adversity,
- afflict,
- affliction,
- ambulatory plague,
- bane,
- baste,
- bastinado,
- beat,
- belabor,
- belt,
- birch,
- black death,
- black plague,
- blacksnake,
- blister,
- bubonic plague,
- buffet,
- bugbear,
- bullwhack,
- bullwhip,
- burden,
- calamity,
- cane,
- castigate,
- castigation,
- cat,
- cellulocutaneous plague,
- chastening,
- chastise,
- chastisement,
- club,
- condign punishment,
- correction,
- cowhide,
- crop,
- crushing burden,
- cudgel,
- curse,
- cut,
- death,
- defervescing plague,
- depredate,
- desecrate,
- deserts,
- desolate,
- despoil,
- destruction,
- devastate,
- disciplinary measures,
- discipline,
- disease,
- drub,
- epidemic,
- epiphytotic,
- epizootic,
- evil,
- excoriate,
- ferule,
- flagellate,
- flagellum,
- flail,
- flay,
- flog,
- frail,
- fustigate,
- give a whipping,
- give the stick,
- glandular plague,
- grievance,
- harm,
- hemorrhagic plague,
- hide,
- hit,
- horsewhip,
- infliction,
- judgment,
- judicial punishment,
- knout,
- kurbash,
- lace,
- larval plague,
- lash,
- lather,
- lay on,
- misery,
- misfortune,
- murrain,
- nemesis,
- open wound,
- pains,
- pains and punishments,
- pandemia,
- pandemic,
- pay,
- payment,
- penal retribution,
- penalty,
- penology,
- pest,
- pesthole,
- pestilence,
- pillage,
- pistol-whip,
- plague,
- plague spot,
- pneumonic plague,
- pommel,
- premonitory plague,
- pummel,
- punish,
- punishment,
- punition,
- quirt,
- rawhide,
- razor strap,
- retribution,
- retributive justice,
- running sore,
- sack,
- scarify,
- scathe,
- scorch,
- septicemic plague,
- siderating plague,
- sjambok,
- slash,
- smite,
- spank,
- spoliate,
- strap,
- stripe,
- swinge,
- switch,
- thong,
- thorn,
- thrash,
- thump,
- torment,
- trounce,
- truncheon,
- tuberculosis,
- vexation,
- visitation,
- wallop,
- waste,
- wear out,
- well-deserved punishment,
- whale,
- what-for,
- whip,
- whiplash,
- white plague,
- whop,
- woe