ratsbane

English

Etymology

From rat's +‎ bane. Compare henbane.

Noun

ratsbane (countable and uncountable, plural ratsbanes)

1. Rat poison; white arsenic.
   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     The Gadfly’s venom, fifty times distilled,
     Is mingled with the vomit of the Leech,
     In due proportion, and black ratsbane, which
     That very Rat, who, like the Pontic tyrant,
     Nurtures himself on poison, dare not touch;—

Translations

Rat poison; white arsenic.

• French: mort aux rats (fr) f, mort-aux-rats (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

References

• “ratsbane”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Braatens, ant bears, ant-bears, antbears, sea brant, tabernas