Definition of Poison

1. Noun. Any substance that causes injury or illness or death of a living organism.

Exact synonyms: Poisonous Substance, Toxicant
Generic synonyms: Substance
Specialized synonyms: Atropine, Hyoscyamine, Toxin
Derivative terms: Poisonous

2. Verb. Spoil as if by poison. "Poison the atmosphere in the office"

3. Noun. Anything that harms or destroys. "The poison of fascism"
Generic synonyms: Destructiveness
Derivative terms: Poisonous, Poisonous

4. Verb. Kill with poison. "They want to poison the prisoners "; "She poisoned her husband"
Generic synonyms: Kill
Derivative terms: Poisoner, Poisoning

5. Verb. Add poison to. "Her husband poisoned her drink in order to kill her"
Exact synonyms: Envenom
Generic synonyms: Alter, Change, Modify
Derivative terms: Poisoning

6. Verb. Kill by its poison. "This mushrooms can poison"
Generic synonyms: Kill

7. Verb. Administer poison to. "She poisoned her husband but he did not die"
Generic synonyms: Dose, Drug
Specialized synonyms: Intoxicate
Derivative terms: Poisoning

Definition of Poison

1. n. Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.

2. v. t. To put poison upon or into; to infect with poison; as, to poison an arrow; to poison food or drink.

3. v. i. To act as, or convey, a poison.

Definition of Poison

1. Noun. A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism. ¹

2. Noun. Something that harms a person or thing. ¹

3. Noun. A drink; liquor. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse somebody ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To pollute; to cause some part of the environment to become poisonous ¹

6. Verb. (transitive) To cause something to become much worse ¹

7. Verb. (transitive) To cause someone to hate or to have unfair negative opinions ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Poison

1. to administer a harmful substance to [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Poison

1. 1. Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases. 2. That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin. Poison ash. A poisonous shrub of the genus Rhus (R. Venenata); also called poison ash, poison dogwood, and poison elder. It has pinnate leaves on graceful and slender common petioles, and usually grows in swampy places. Both this plant and the poison ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron) have clusters of smooth greenish white berries, while the red-fruited species of this genus are harmless. The tree (Rhus vernicifera) which yields the celebrated Japan lacquer is almost identical with the poison sumac, and is also very poisonous. The juice of the poison sumac also forms a lacquer similar to that of Japan. Synonym: Venom, virus, bane, pest, malignity. Poison, Venom. Poison usually denotes something received into the system by the mouth, breath, etc. Venom is something discharged from animals and received by means of a wound, as by the bite or sting of serpents, scorpions, etc. Hence, venom specifically implies some malignity of nature or purpose. Origin: F. Poison, in Old French also, a potion, fr. L. Potio a drink, draught, potion, a poisonous draught, fr. Potare to drink. See Potable, and cf. Potion. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Poison

pointsmen
pointwise
pointwork
pointy
pointy-toed
poioumenon
pois
poise
poised
poiseless
poiser
poisers
poises
poisha
poising
poison (current term)
poison-berry
poison-ivy
poison-pen letter
poison-pen letters
poison arrow plant
poison ash
poison bush
poison camas
poison control centres
poison dart frog
poison dart frogs
poison dogwood
poison gas
poison gland

Literary usage of Poison

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Nature by Norman Lockyer (1878)
"THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1878 SNAKE poison EVERY now and again the British public is horrified by accounts of the famines which periodically carry off myriads ..."

2. The Lancet (1842)
"The antidotes, he says, are of two kinds : "One kind takes away the deleterious qualities of the poison, before it comes within its sphere of action, ..."

3. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1864)
"When the action of the poison was slower, there was often no visible effect for hours or days. At first there was always a little discomfort from the taste ..."

4. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Standard Work of Reference in Art, Literature (1907)
"An exact definition of the word " poison " is by no means easy. There is no legal definition of what constitutes a poison, and the definitions usually ..."

5. Life-zone Indicators in California by Harvey Monroe Hall, Marcos Sastre, William Hamilton Gibson, Joseph Grinnell (1919)
"It bears -the popular names of poison-sumach, poison-dogwood, and poison- elder, and is a shrub varying from six to twenty-five feet in height, with foliage ..."

6. Journal of the American Medical Association by American Medical Association (1890)
"By repeated and continued doses of calomel, German physicians claimed to greatly reduce the ! the proliferation of the typh-poison within the death-rate. ..."

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