a. [f. BANE sb.1 + -FUL.]
1. Life-destroying; poisonous.
a. 1593. H. Smith, Wks. (1867), II. 475. The old serpent’s baneful breath.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. (1641), 27. The banefull Aconite.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Eclog., iii. 124. The Nightly Wolf is baneful to the Fold.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XXII. 107. Herbs Of baneful juice.
c. 1854. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., vii. (1858), 290. No living creature could survive the baneful atmosphere which hung upon its waters.
2. Destructive to well-being, pernicious, injurious.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Aug., 173. Helpe me ye banefull byrds.
1586. Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., V. ii. A sight … baneful to their souls.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 311. To see ten thousand baneful arts combined.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, i. 4. Very baneful superstition.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. x. 503. Whose results … would prove most baneful, if not ruinous, to the country.
