The word for today is…
smite (verb) – 1. (a) To inflict a heavy blow on, with or as if with the hand, a tool, or a weapon.
(b) To drive or strike (a weapon, for example) forcefully onto or into something else.
2. To attack, damage, or destroy by or as if by blows.
3. (a) To afflict: The population was smitten by the plague.
(b) To afflict retributively; chasten or chastise.
4. To affect sharply with great feeling: He was smitten by deep remorse.
Source : The Free Dictionary
Etymology : Today’s word has been part of the English language for a very long time; the earliest documented use in print dates to the 12th century. Smite can be traced back to the Old English sm?tan, meaning “to smear or defile.” Sm?tan is akin to the Scottish word smit, meaning “to stain, contaminate, or infect,” as well as to the Old High German bism?zan, “to defile.” In addition to its “strike” and “attack” senses, smite has a softer side. As of the mid-17th century, it can mean “to captivate or take”—a sense that is frequently used in the past participle in such contexts as “smitten by her beauty” or “smitten with him” (meaning “in love with him”). Its past tense is smote.