poison
English
Etymology
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 ator. See also potion and potable.
Pronunciation
- enPR: poi'zən, IPA(key): /ˈpɔɪz(ə)n/
Audio (US): (file) Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ɔɪzən
- Hyphenation: poi‧son
Noun
poison (countable and uncountable, plural poisons)
- A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism.
- We used a poison to kill the weeds.
- Something that harms a person or thing.
- Gossip is a malicious poison.
- (informal) A drink; liquor.
- — What's your poison?
- — I'll have a glass of whisky.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
substance harmful to a living organism
|
something that harms
liquor
Verb
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 some part of the environment to become poisonous
- That factory is poisoning the river.
- (transitive) To cause something 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.
Synonyms
- (to pollute): contaminate, pollute, taint
- (to cause to become worse): corrupt, taint
Derived terms
Translations
to use poison to kill or paralyse
|
pollute
|
make worse
|
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “poison”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “poison”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
French
Etymology
From Old French, inherited from Latin pōtio, pōtiōnis. Doublet of potion, a borrowing.
Pronunciation
Noun
poison m (plural poisons)
- poison
- Poisson sans boisson est poison — Fish gotta swim.
Derived terms
Further reading
- “poison”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English
Noun
poison
- Alternative form of poisoun
Old French
Etymology
Noun
poison oblique singular, 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
Spanish
Etymology
Noun
poison m (plural póisones)
Categories:
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- English terms derived from Latin
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- Rhymes:English/ɔɪzən
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- en:Poisons
- en:Toxicology
- French terms inherited from Old French
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- Louisiana Spanish