ban-hound

ban-hound (plural ban-hounds)

1. (mythology) A dog that fulfills or executes a curse (ban).
   • 1853 July, Archaeologia Cambrensis, London: W. Pickering, page 203:

     [T]hose dames were wont to make their appearance, arrayed in green, in the neighbourhood of Llyn Barfog, chiefly at eventide, accompanied by their kine and hounds, and that on quiet summer nights in particular, these ban-hounds were often to be heard in full cry pursuing their prey[.]

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     `Rash man!' she said; `like Actæon, thou hast had thy will; be careful lest, like Actæon, thou too dost perish miserably, torn to pieces by the ban-hounds of thine own passions.'