Scourge

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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.
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     2. Hence, a means of inflicting punishment, vengeance, or
        suffering; an infliction of affliction; a punishment.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Sharp scourges of adversity.          --Chaucer.
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              What scourge for perjury
              Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?
                                                    --Shak.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  scourge
       n 1: a whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic
            humor) [syn: {flagellum}]
       2: something causes misery or death; "the bane of my life"
          [syn: {bane}, {curse}, {nemesis}]
       3: a person who inspires fear or dread; "he was the terror of
          the neighborhood" [syn: {terror}, {threat}]
       v 1: punish severely; excoriate
       2: whip; "The religious fanatics flagellated themselves" [syn:
          {flagellate}]
       3: devastate or ravage; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside
          after the invasion" [syn: {lay waste to}, {waste}, {devastate},
           {desolate}, {ravage}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  154 Moby Thesaurus words for "scourge":
     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