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poison Definition

poi·son (po̵i′zən)

noun

  1. a substance causing illness or death when eaten, drunk, or absorbed even in relatively small quantities
  2. anything harmful or destructive to happiness or welfare, such as an idea, emotion, etc.
  3. in a nuclear reactor, a substance, as boron, that readily absorbs thermal neutrons from a chain reaction, thereby decreasing the reactivity of a reactor core: it is used for safety or control
  4. Chem. a substance that inhibits or destroys the activity of a catalyst, enzyme, etc. or that interferes with or checks a reaction

Etymology: OFr < L potio, potion

transitive verb

  1. to give poison to; harm or destroy by means of poison
  2. to put poison on or into
  3. to influence wrongfully; corrupt to poison someone's mind

adjective

poisonous or poisoned

poison Related Forms
poi′·soner noun
poison Synonyms

poison

n.

virus, bane, toxin, infection, germ, bacteria, oil, vapor, gas; see also venom 1.

Types of poisons include: rattlesnake, copperhead, black-widow-spider, tarantula venom; poison oak, poison ivy, death angel mushroom, hemlock, foxglove, nightshade, carbon monoxide gas, cooking gas, arsenic, lead, strychnine, oxalic, sulphuric, hydrochloric, nitric, carbolic, prussic, hydrocyanic acid; cyanide, cantharides, caustic soda, lye, belladonna, curare, aconite, Paris green, lead arsenate, blue vitriol, copper sulfate, nicotine, DDT, Agent Orange, radiation, radon gas, botulin.

poison Synonyms

poison

v.

infect, injure, kill, murder, destroy, vitiate, corrupt, pervert, undermine, defile, harm, taint, envenom, make ill, cause violent illness.

Antonyms benefit, help*, purify.

poison Usage Examples

Object

  • chalice: Click here April 11: Is the Manager of the Month award a poisoned chalice?
  • dart: Bond is knocked out by a poisoned dart to the neck.
  • rodent: Most risks posed to wildlife are through secondary exposure by consuming poisoned rodents.
  • bait: A big clue as to whether you are dealing with a poisoned bait is to see what is close by.

Converse of object

  • ingest: The vet checked Sioux's liver and shocked me stating she had ingested poison!
  • swallow: If you suspect someone has swallowed a poison or an overdose of drugs and they appear to be unconscious, try to rouse them.
  • secrete: These glands secrete a weak poison which may deter some predators.
  • inject: Their fangs are for injecting poison into the prey.

Adjective modifier

  • non-medicinal: Regulations as to distribution of non-medicinal poisons by district councils 11.
  • deadly: He was told to use Black Leaf 40 ( a deadly poison ) to kill Castro.
  • lethal: Like the terrain around the Upas tree No Man's Land was scourged, swept incessantly by fire and lethal poisons.
  • cumulative: You will always have to consume a cumulative poison every time you drink a glass of water or a cup of tea.
  • irritant: Virus such as distemper or parvo, irritant poisons, food poisoning or dietary allergies are the most common causes of diarrhea.

Modifies a noun

  • ivy: This is even worse than the poison ivy you once had under a cast.
  • toxin-a: Botox, the brand name for the deadly nerve poison botulinum toxin-A, freezes facial muscles and eradicates unwanted lines.
  • frog: Arrow poison frogs pursue the most devoted of family lives high in the boughs.
  • pill: A vote to uphold the poison pill would help protect the Murdoch family from any threats to their long-term control.
  • botulinum: Botox, the brand name for the deadly nerve poison botulinum toxin-A, freezes facial muscles and eradicates unwanted lines.
  • gas: Iraq has used poison gas against its own people.

Noun used with modifier

  • rat: We've decided to leave rat poison out instead of bananas in future.
poison Quotes

Corruption is more than a poison afflicting Chinese business life. It is Chinese business life.

—The Economist

Christ for myguardianship today: against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, that there may come to me a multitude of rewards; Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ over me, Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me, Christ in lying down, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising up, Christ in the heart of every person who may thinkof me, Christ in the mouth of every person who may speak of me, Christ in every eye, which may look on me! Christ in every ear, which may hear me!

—St Patrick   5c

   Our Adonais has drunk poisonöoh! What deaf and viperous murderer could crown Life's early cup with such a draught of woe?

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honeyand wax; thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.

—Swift,Jonathan

It don't make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person's conscience ain't got no sense, and just goes for him anyway.If I had a yaller dog that didn't know nomorethana person's conscience does Iwould poison him. It takes up more room than all the rest of a person's insides, and yet ain't no good, nohow. Tom Sawyer he says the same.

—Twain, Mark pseudonym of  Samuel Langhorne Clemens

The pellet with the poison's in the chalice from the palace The flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true.

—Panama, Norman and Frank, Melvin

Unlawful pleasure, trenching on another's rights, is delusive and envenomed pleasureöits hollowness disappoints at the time, its poison cruelly tortures afterwards, its effects deprave forever.

—Bronte«  , Charlotte

We hardly know any instance of the strength and weakness of humannaturesostriking, and sogrotesque, as the character of this haughty, vigilant, resolute, sagacious blue-stockingöhalf Mithridates and half Trissotin, bearing up against a world in arms, with an ounce of poison inone pocket, and a quire of bad verses in the other.

—1st Baron

Science isthegreat antidoteto the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

—Smith, Adam

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort or the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

—Empson, Sir William

While Socrates empties the cup of poison with unshaken soul,Christ exclaims,'If it is possible, let this cup pass from me'.Christ in this respect is the self- confession of human sensibility.

—Feuerbach, Ludwig

The strongest poison ever known Came from Ceasar's laurel crown.

—Blake,William

'Did they dare, did they dare, to slay Owen Roe O'Neil?' 'Yes, theyslew with poisonhimthey feared tomeet with steel.' 'May God wither up their hearts! May their blood cease to flow! May they walk in living death, who poisoned Owen Roe!'

—Davis,Thomas Osborne

Theyare as venomous as the poison of a serpent: even like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears; Which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer: charm he never so wisely.

—Book of Common Prayer

Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off? Six days of the week it soils With its sickening poisonö Just for paying a few bills! That's out of proportion.

—Larkin, Philip Arthur