Link Centre Dictionary

scourge

UK/skɜːd͡ʒ/ US/skɜɹd͡ʒ/ uncommon
noun (3) verb (3)

noun

1.

a whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic humor)

Synonyms
2.

something causes misery or death

  • “the bane of my life”
Synonyms
3.

a person who inspires fear or dread

  • “he was the terror of the neighborhood”
Synonyms

verb

1.
2.

whip

  • “The religious fanatics flagellated themselves”
Synonyms
3.

devastate or ravage

  • “The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English scourge (“a lash, whip, scourge; affliction, calamity; person who causes affliction or calamity; shoot of a vine”), and then either: * from Anglo-Norman scorge, escorge, escurge, or Old French scurge, escourge, escorge, escorgiee, escurge (modern French escourgée (“(archaic) whip made of leather strips”)), either: ** from Vulgar Latin *excoriāta (“strip of hide; a scourge”), from Late Latin excoriāre, the present active infinitive of excoriō (“to strip the skin from, to skin”), from Latin ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + corium (“skin; hide, leather”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”)); or ** from Latin ex- (intensifying prefix) + corrigia (“a whip”) (from corrigō (“to make right, correct; to reform”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)); or * from Middle English scourgen (verb) (see etymology 2). Cognates Italian scuriada, scuriata

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.