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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Revenge

Re-vēn'ge', v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. REVENGED; p. pr. & vb. n. REVENGING.] [O. Fr. revenger, revengier, verencher, N. Fr. revancher, Pr. revenjar, revengiar, revengar; from re, again, and O. Fr. vengier, venger, N. Fr. venger, Pr. venjar, vengar, Sp. vengar, Pg. vingar, It. vendicare, from Lat. vindicare. See VINDICATE.]

Sense 1. To inflict punishment in vindication of; to vindicate; to exact satisfaction for, under a sense of injury; to avenge; — followed either by the wrong received, or by the person or thing wronged, as the object, or by the reciprocal pronoun as direct object, and a preposition before the wrong done, or the wrong-doer.

The gods are just, and will revenge our cause. Dryden.

Come, Antony and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius. Shak.

Sense 2. To inflict injury for, in a spiteful, wrong, or malignant spirit; to wreak vengeance for, maliciously.

Synonyms— To avenge; vindicate. See AVENGE.

Re-vēn'ge', n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. revanche, N. Fr. revanche. See supra.]

  1. The act of revenging, or vindicating from a wrong received. “The beginning of revenges upon the enemy.” Deut. xxxii. 42.
  2. The act of revenging or inflicting spiteful injury in return for injury received.

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior. Bacon. 3. The disposition to revenge; a malignant wishing of evil to one who has done us an injury. Revenge now goes to lay a complot. Shak. The indulgence of revenge tends to make men more savage and cruel. Kames.