The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Vengeance \Venge"ance\, n. [F. vengeance, fr. venger to avenge,
   L. vindicare to lay claim to, defend, avenge, fr. vindex a
   claimant, defender, avenger, the first part of which is of
   uncertain origin, and the last part akin to dicere to say.
   See Diction, and cf. Avenge, Revenge, Vindicate.]
   1. Punishment inflicted in return for an injury or an
      offense; retribution; -- often, in a bad sense, passionate
      or unrestrained revenge.
      [1913 Webster]

            To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. --Deut.
                                                  xxxii. 35.
      [1913 Webster]

            To execute fierce vengeance on his foes. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Harm; mischief. [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   What a vengeance, or What the vengeance, what! --
      emphatically. [Obs.] "But what a vengeance makes thee
      fly!" --Hudibras. "What the vengeance! Could he not speak
      'em fair?" --Shak.

   With a vengeance,
      (a) with great violence; as, to strike with a vengeance.
          [Colloq.]
      (b) with even greater intensity; as, to return one's
          insult with a vengeance.
          [1913 Webster + PJC]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

vengeance
    n 1: the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation
         for something harmful that they have done) especially in
         the next life; "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the
         Lord"--Romans 12:19; "For vengeance I would do nothing.
         This nation is too great to look for mere revenge"--James
         Garfield; "he swore vengeance on the man who betrayed him";
         "the swiftness of divine retribution" [syn: vengeance,
         retribution, payback]