scourge / skərj/ • n. 1. hist. a whip used as an instrument of punishment.2. a person or thing that causes great trouble or suffering: the scourge of mass unemployment.• v. [tr.] 1. hist. whip (someone) as a punishment.2. cause great suffering to: political methods used to scourge and oppress workers.DERIVATIVES: scourg·er n. ( hist. ).

scourge a whip used as an instrument of punishment; a scourge is the emblem of St Guthlac.
Scourge of God a translation of Latin flagellum Dei, the title given by historians to Attila, the leader of the Huns in the 5th century; the term is recorded in English from the 14th century.

scourge whip XIII; instrument of divine chastisement XIV; cause of calamity XVI. Aphetic — OF. escurge, escorge, f. escorgier vb. whip :- Rom. *excorrigiāre, f. EX-1 + corrigia thong, whip.
So vb. XIII. — OF. escorgier.

Scourge

a load or burden. See also plague.

Examples : scourge of adversity, 1386; or mosquitoes; of priests, 1560; of Turks, 1596.