Noun

(uncountable) A source of persistent trouble such as pestilence that causes pain and suffering or widespread destruction.

A means to inflict such pain or destruction.

* Shakespeare

What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?

* {{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty

, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}

A whip, often of leather.

* Chapman

Up to coach then goes / The observed maid, takes both the scourge and reins.

Noun

(en noun)

Injury; hurt; damage; detriment; misfortune.

* , chapter=13

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}

That which causes injury, damage, or loss.

* (William Shakespeare)

We, ignorant of ourselves, / Beg often our own harms .