Dictionary
bane
Pronunciation: (bān), [key]—
n.
1. a person or thing that ruins or spoils:
Gambling was the bane of his existence.
2. a deadly poison (often used in combination, as in the names of poisonous plants):
wolfsbane; henbane.
3. death; destruction; ruin.
4. Obs.that which causes death or destroys life:
entrapped and drowned beneath the watery bane. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.