B [Quick Quiz 14-17]

Question 1

Bane

Answer 1

Poison

something that causes trouble or makes people unhappy:

be the bane of something/somebody
Drugs are the bane of the inner cities.
Her brother is the bane of her life.

Question 2

Bastion

Answer 2

Stronghold

1something that protects a way of life, principle etc that seems likely to change or end completely:
bastion of
These clubs are the last bastions of male privilege.

2MILITARY
a place where a country or army has strong military defences:
Pearl Harbor was the principal American bastion in the Pacific.

3technical
BUILDINGS ARCHITECTURE
a part of a castle wall that sticks out from the rest

Question 3

Beget

Answer 3

Give birth to

1 (old use) to become the father of a child

2 to cause something or make it happen:
Hunger begets crime.

Question 4

Belabor

Answer 4

Go over repeatedly

1 belabor the point (formal)
to keep emphasizing a fact or idea in a way that is annoying

2 old-fashioned
to hit someone or something hard

Question 5

Beleaguer

Answer 5

Surround

adjective [usually before noun] (formal)

1 experiencing a lot of problems or criticism:
the country’s beleaguered steel industry

2 surrounded by an army:
Supplies are being brought into the beleaguered city.

Question 6

Banal

Answer 6

ordinary and not interesting, because of a lack of new or different ideas
SYN trivial

conversations about the most banal subjects