To afflict, harass, or trouble someone persistently, as if with a plague or curse.
From 'be-' (to affect thoroughly) plus 'plague' (from Latin 'plaga' meaning 'strike' or 'wound'). This construction follows the Middle English pattern of creating verbs that mean 'to cover with' or 'to treat as'.
Shakespeare and his contemporaries loved these 'be-' verbs for dramatic effect—imagine saying 'beplagued by sorrow' instead of just 'troubled.' It sounds archaic now, but it was the cutting-edge slang of the 1600s!
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