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vengeance |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. --Deut. xxxii 35. To execute fierce vengeance on his foes. --Milton. 2. Harm; mischief. [Obs.] --Shak. {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}, with great violence; as to strike with a vengeance. [Colloq.] From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: vengeance n : 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: {retribution}]
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