bane

“Whether by the banes of the sea, banes of the farm, or banes of the woods.”

“When I’m playing, it zones out,” Anna Leigh Waters says of that unmistakable, plastic pop, pop, pop distinct to the wildly popular paddle sport—and a bane to fussy condo boards everywhere.

But Qatar has also been a bane of American conservatives because of its history in hosting Hamas’s political leadership and its support for other Islamist groups.

Critics fear that Shein -- whose meteoric rise has been a bane for traditional retail fashion companies -- will further hurt stores in France that have had to lay off staff or close.

But with the improvement of cross-strait relations and economic links, many on Kinmen view their proximity to China as a boon, not a bane.