Hypertext Webster Gateway: "vengeance"
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) 1.7 (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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