[syn: lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
scourge
n 1: a whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic
humor) [syn: scourge, flagellum]
2: something causing misery or death; "the bane of my life"
[syn: bane, curse, scourge, nemesis]
3: a person who inspires fear or dread; "he was the terror of
the neighborhood" [syn: terror, scourge, threat]
v 1: punish severely; excoriate
2: whip; "The religious fanatics flagellated themselves" [syn:
flagellate, scourge]
3: 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]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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