poison
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English poisoun, poyson, poysone, puyson, puisun, from Old French puison, poison, from Latin pōtio, pōtiōnis (“drink, a draught, a poisonous draught, a potion”), from pōtō (“I drink”). Displaced native Old English ātor. See also potion and potable.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
poison (countable and uncountable, plural poisons)
- A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism when ingested.
- We used a poison to kill the weeds.
- Something that harms a person or thing.
- Gossip is a malicious poison.
- 1593, anonymous, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act IV:
- Awaie with the Rebels ſuffer them not to ſpeake,
His words are poyſon in the eares of the people, […]
- (informal) An intoxicating drink; a liquor. (note: this sense is chiefly encountered in the phrases "name your poison" and "what's your poison ?")
- — What's your poison?
- — I'll have a glass of whisky.
- (chemistry) Any substance that inhibits catalytic activity.
- 2013, Huazhang Liu, Ammonia Synthesis Catalysts: Innovation and Practice (page 693)
- The temperature effect of poisons. The influence of poison on the catalyst can be different with the change of reaction conditions.
- 2013, Huazhang Liu, Ammonia Synthesis Catalysts: Innovation and Practice (page 693)
Usage notes[edit]
- Not to be confused with venom
Synonyms[edit]
- (substance that is harmful): atter, bane, contaminant, pollutant, toxin
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
substance harmful to a living organism
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something that harms
Verb[edit]
poison (third-person singular simple present poisons, present participle poisoning, simple past and past participle poisoned)
- (transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse (somebody).
- The assassin poisoned the king.
- (transitive) To pollute; to cause to become poisonous.
- That factory is poisoning the river.
- (transitive) To cause to become much worse.
- Suspicion will poison their relationship.
- He poisoned the mood in the room with his non-stop criticism.
- (transitive) To cause (someone) to hate or to have unfair negative opinions.
- She's poisoned him against all his old friends.
- (chemistry) To inhibit the catalytic activity of.
- (transitive, computing) To place false information into (a cache) as part of an exploit.
- 2013, Ronald L. Mendell, Investigating Information-based Crimes (page 93)
- In this technique, the hacker poisons the cache to launch malware into Web pages.
- 2013, Ronald L. Mendell, Investigating Information-based Crimes (page 93)
Usage notes[edit]
- Not to be confused with envenomate
Synonyms[edit]
- (to pollute): contaminate, pollute, taint
- (to cause to become worse): corrupt, taint
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to use poison to kill or paralyse
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pollute
make worse
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References[edit]
- Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “poison”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “poison” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French, inherited from Latin pōtio, pōtiōnem. Doublet of potion, a borrowing.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
poison m (plural poisons)
- poison
- Poisson sans boisson est poison. ― Fish without drink is poison.
Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “poison”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English[edit]
Noun[edit]
poison
- Alternative form of poisoun
Old French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin pōtiōnem, accusative singular of pōtio.
Noun[edit]
poison f (oblique plural poisons, nominative singular poison, nominative plural poisons)
- poison
- circa 1176, Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès:
- Thessala tranpre sa poison
- Thessala mixed her poison
- potion
Descendants[edit]
Spanish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French poison. Doublet of poción.
Noun[edit]
poison m (plural póisones)
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *peh₃-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɔɪzən
- Rhymes:English/ɔɪzən/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English informal terms
- en:Chemistry
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Computing
- en:Poisons
- en:Toxicology
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French terms with usage examples
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns
- Old French terms with quotations
- Spanish terms borrowed from French
- Spanish terms derived from French
- Spanish doublets
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Louisiana Spanish