scourge
noun
[ skəːdʒ ]
• a whip used as an instrument of punishment.
Similar:
whip,
horsewhip,
lash,
strap,
birch,
switch,
flail,
bullwhip,
rawhide,
cat-o'-nine-tails,
knout,
flagellum,
quirt,
blacksnake,
• a person or thing that causes great trouble or suffering.
• "the scourge of mass unemployment"
Similar:
affliction,
bane,
curse,
plague,
menace,
evil,
misfortune,
burden,
cross to bear,
thorn in one's flesh/side,
bitter pill,
trial,
nuisance,
pest,
torment,
torture,
misery,
suffering,
blight,
cancer,
canker,
punishment,
penalty,
visitation,
scourge
verb
• whip (someone) as a punishment.
• "our people did scourge him severely"
Similar:
flog,
whip,
beat,
horsewhip,
lash,
flagellate,
flail,
strap,
birch,
cane,
thrash,
belt,
leather,
bullwhip,
give someone a hiding,
tan someone's hide,
lather,
take a strap to,
whale,
switch,
stripe,
thong,
quirt,
• cause great suffering to.
• "political methods used to scourge and oppress workers"
Similar:
afflict,
plague,
torment,
torture,
curse,
cause suffering to,
oppress,
burden,
bedevil,
beset,
devastate,
punish,
Origin:
Middle English: shortening of Old French escorge (noun), escorgier (verb), from Latin ex- ‘thoroughly’ + corrigia ‘thong, whip’.
