Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Scourge

Scourge , noun

[French escourgée, from Latin excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), from excoriare to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]

1.
A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip.
Up to coach then goes The observed maid, takes both the scourge and reins. — Chapman
2.
Hence, a means of inflicting punishment, vengeance, or suffering; an infliction of affliction; a punishment.
Sharp scourges of adversity. — Chaucer
What scourge for perjury Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence? — Shakespeare

Scourge , transitive verb

[From Scourge, n.: compare Old French escorgier.]

1.
To whip severely; to lash.
Is it lawful for you to scourge a... Roman? — Acts xxii. 25
2.
To punish with severity; to chastise; to afflict, as for sins or faults, and with the purpose of correction.
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. — Heb. xii. 6
3.
To harass or afflict severely.
To scourge and impoverish the people. — Brougham