| 释义 |
▪ I. poison, n. (a., adv.)|ˈpɔɪz(ə)n|
Forms: α. 3 poysun, 4 poisoun, 4–6 poysen, 4–7 -soun, -e, 4–8 -son, 5 -syn, (poyssone), 5–6 poysone, 4– poison. β. 3–4 puisun, 4 puison; Sc. and north. dial. 5 puso(u)n, puyso(u)n, pwsoune, 6 pussoun (9 dial. puzzen).
[ME. puison, poison, a. OF. puison (12th c. in Godef.), poison ‘drink, draught’, later ‘poisonous draught’ (14th c.) = Pr. poizo, poyzon, Sp. pocion, It. pozione:—L. pōtiō-nem a drink, potion, poisonous draught, f. pōtāre, pōt-um to drink: see potion.]
A. n.
†1.
a. A drink prepared for a special purpose; a medicinal draught; a potion. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 52 And poysoun on a pole þei put vp to his lippes. 1481Caxton Myrr. ii. xx. 110 Waters..whiche somme men drynke for to be heled of their maladyes in stede of poyson. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 150 Y⊇ Phisition by minglyng bitter poysons with sweete lyquor, bringeth health to the body.
b. esp. A potion prepared with a deadly or deleterious drug or ingredient; also, such an ingredient of a drink or food. Obs. or merged in 2.
c1230Hali Meid. 33 Tu wilt inoh raðe..makien puisun & ȝeouen bale i bote stude. 13..Sir Beues (A.) 1932 And drinke ferst of þe win, Þat no poisoun was þer in. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 533 And Alexander the conqueroure..Wes syne destroyit throw pwsoune. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 699 He deit..of a fellone poyssone, myngit and mad be tresone. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 218 By the meane of a sleapyng poyson or drinke that he gaue to his kepers..he escaped.
2. a. Any substance which, when introduced into or absorbed by a living organism, destroys life or injures health, irrespective of mechanical means or direct thermal changes. Popularly applied to a substance capable of destroying life by rapid action, and when taken in a small quantity. Fig. phr. to hate like poison.
But the more scientific use is recognized in the phrase slow poison, indicating the accumulative effect of a deleterious drug or agent taken for a length of time.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 339 Venym and poysoun i-brouȝt þiderward out of oþer londes. 1398― Barth. De P.R. xvii. iii. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 190/2 Ofte þinge þat is holsome and goode to men is poyson to oþer bestes. 1483Cath. Angl. 295/1 A Puson, aconitum, toxicum, venenum. 1530J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse fol. cclviiiv, He gyueth me fayre wordes and yet he hateth me lyke poyson. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxxxix. [cxl.] 3 Adders poyson is vnder their lippes. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vii. 295 Heere is also a most strong and deadly poison, one graine whereof being diuided amongst ten persons, will kill them all. 1616,a1809[see meat n. 1 c]. 1741Middleton Cicero I. v. 348 [He] put an end to his life by poyson. 1821Byron Two Foscari i. i, Each breath Of foreign air he draws seems a slow poison. 1855Brewster Newton II. xxv. 372 A virulent poison may differ from the most wholesome food only in the difference of quantity of the very same ingredients. 1864A. Trollope in Good Words Dec. 931/1 Everybody liked Barty,—excepting only Mally Trenglos, and she hated him like poison. 1885J. Stevenson in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 275/2 An exact definition of ‘poison’ is by no means easy. There is no legal definition of what constitutes a poison... In popular language, a poison is a substance capable of destroying life when taken in small quantity. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 464 ‘Poisons’ manufactured within the economy can act in a similar manner, as evidenced by uræmic poisoning. Mod. colloq. They hate each other like poison. 1905H. A. Vachell Hill i. 20 ‘He hates me like poison,’ said Duff. 1974‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Other Story xii. 97 Enormous sums vanishing in bitter law-suits, which is a thought the wealthy hate like poison.
b. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Alcoholic liquor; an alcoholic drink; esp. in phr. to name one's poison, to say what drink one would like; also transf.
1805‘Red Jacket’ in Freemason's Mag. (Philadelphia) II. 388 We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return. [Note] Alluding it is supposed to ardent spirits. 1866‘Mark Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 85 In Washoe, when you are..invited to take ‘your regular pison’, etiquette admonishes you to touch glasses. 1876Carson Valley News (Genoa, Nev.) 2 June 2/2 Nominate your poison, gents: it's my treat. 1876J. Miller First Fam'lies of Sierras 128 A true Californian of Sierras..heads straight up to the bar,..hoists his Poison, throws back his head, and then falls back wiping his mouth. 1914Joyce Dubliners 113 Just as they were naming their poisons who should come in but Higgins! 1951T. Sterling House without Door ii. 12 Name your poison, lady. Chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, maple cream. 1965E. Brown Big Man xvii. 157 ‘What's your poison tonight, miss?’ ‘Make it a gin and bitter lemon.’ 1973J. Ashford Double Run v. 37 Come right in and name your poison.
c. Chem. A substance which destroys or reduces the activity of a catalyst.
1913in C. Ellis Hydrogenation Oils (1914) 316 Sulphur is a ‘poison’ to the catalyst. 1938Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) II. 426/2 Nickel is in general very effective, but..is sensitive to ‘poisons’, particularly sulphur compounds and carbon monoxide. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. II. 548/1 Catalysts gradually lose catalytic activity. Traces of impurity in the feed, called poisons, may be strongly adsorbed and exclude the reactants from the surface.
d. Nuclear Sci. A fission product or an impurity in a nuclear reactor which interacts with neutrons and thus slows the intended reaction; also, an element with this property which is added to the fuel in order to facilitate control of the reaction.
1952S. Glasstone Elements Nuclear Reactor Theory xi. 315 Some of these [sc. fission products] may have large cross sections for the absorption of neutrons, and so they can act as poisons. 1961J. F. Hill Textbk. Reactor Physics vii. 201 It is sometimes of advantage deliberately to introduce a high neutron absorbing material into a reactor to increase the intervals between recharging the reactor with fuel. A material used in this way is called a ‘burnable poison’. 1963J. F. Hogerton Atomic Energy Deskbk. 406/1 It should be noted that some poisons are classified as undesirable whereas others are deliberately introduced into the system... The major fission product poisons are xenon-135 and samarium-149. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IX. 185/1 Fission-product poisons (neutron absorbers) can be lowered by frequent processing of fuel. 1978Nature 26 Jan. 306/3 The higher natural abundance of 235U..prevailing at that time.., and effective absence of neutron-absorbing ‘poisons’, constituted favourable conditions for the occurrence of a self-propagating fission reaction.
3. fig.
a. Any principle, doctrine, or influence, the reception of which is baneful to character, morality, or the well-being of the body politic; any baneful element taken in from without.
c1470Henry Wallace x. 97 Tresonable folk thair mater wyrkis throu lyst. Poyson sen syn at the Fawkyrk is cald. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 35 A poyson of all poysons in religion moost to be feared. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xv. 17 My breist is woyd and purgit of pussoun. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 168 The poyson of seditious doctrines. 1728Eliza Heywood tr. Mme. de Gomez's Belle A. (1732) II. 157 Flattery is a Poison easily swallowed. 1838Thirlwall Greece III. xxi. 204 The poison of incurable suspicion perverted every noble feeling.
b. Applied to a person who exerts a baneful influence or who is detested.
1910W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 28 They say he's part Spanish and part Indian, but all pisen. 1964L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin xlii. 262 You are poison to Gehlen... There isn't a place left in the whole world where you would get a sniff of a job. 1974A. Williams Gentleman Traitor xiii. 194 Philby's poison, whichever side he's on. 1977R. Barnard Death on High C's xvi. 164 One knows the type... Simply eaten up with egotism... They're complete poison, wherever they go.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. Attributive, as poison-apparatus, poison-bag, poison bottle, poison-bowl, poison-breath, poison-canal, poison-dew, poison-duct, poison-fang, poison-flower, poison-gland, poison-organ, poison pill, poison-sac, poison-scrub, poison-shrub, poison-slime, poison-sting, poison-thorn, poison-tooth.
b. Objective and obj. gen., as poison-bearing, poison-breathing, poison-shooting adjs.; poison-eater, poison-maker, poison-secretor, poison-seller, poison-swallower.
c. Instrumental, parasynthetic, etc., as poison-barbed, poison-dipped, poison-laden, poison-proof, poison-sprinkled, poison-tainted, poison-tipped, poison-toothed adjs.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 208/2 Scorpions have also a *poison-apparatus.
1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xvii. (1818) II. 67 Their abdomen is also furnished with a *poison-bag.., in which is secreted a powerful and venomous fluid.
1834Tait's Mag. I. 124/1 Their arrows, *poison-barbed.
1854Dickens Hard T. xiii. 104 It were the *Poison-bottle on table. 1978P. Lovesey Waxwork 64 That struck me as peculiar..that a man committing suicide would put the poison bottle back in the cabinet.
1838Lytton Leila i. ii, Imprisoned..with the *poison-bowl or the dagger hourly before my eyes.
1599T. M[oufet] Silkworms 67 Of brittle Ash, and *poyson-breathing vgh [yew].
1849–52Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 888/2 The tooth itself is crescentic, with the horns..so as to circumscribe the *poison-canal.
1835Talfourd Ion iii. ii, The tree, whose branches stifling virtue, Shed *poison-dews on joy.
1866Ruskin Crown Wild Olive iii. (1898) 147 A *poison-dipped sceptre, whose touch was mortal.
1849–52Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 888/1 The *poison-duct..rests in a slight groove..on the convex side of the fang.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xlvii. 409 Its venomous maxillæ the *poison-fangs. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 809 When the snake opens its jaws before striking the poison-fangs are erected.
1819Keats Isabella xiii, Even bees..Know there is richest juice in *poison-flowers.
1849–52Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 888/2 The fang appears..to be perforated by the duct of the *poison-gland.
1552Huloet, *Poyson maker, veneficus.
1946P. Bottome Lifeline xxxv. 269 With his hands tied securely behind him Mark could not reach the *poison pill he had been given for such emergencies. 1975Times 29 Aug. 6/8 There are many organizations working against Mrs Gandhi... Ours is serious... We all carry poison pills in our pockets.
1679Dryden Tr. & Cr. v. ii, Their horse-bodies are *poison-proof.
1902H. H. Prichard Thro' Heart of Patagonia iii. 44 A low green belt of *poison-scrub.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xli. 127 In the Scorpion..the *poison-secretor is clothed externally with a horny thickish membrane.
1552Huloet, *Poyson seller, uenenarius.
1840Eliza Cook World viii, There are spots where the *poison-shrub grows.
1819R. Sheil Evadne ii. i. 19 Thou sheddest thy *poison-slime upon the flower Of a pure woman's honour.
1856Aytoun Bothwell ii. xvii, I've heard that *poison-sprinkled flowers Are sweeter in perfume.
1873France, Empire & Civiliz. 43 Which has left a *poison-sting in many hearts.
1735Somerville Chase iv. 226 The *poison-tainted Air.
1899Werner Capt. of Locusts 151 The boy hurt his hand badly—spiked it on some *poison-thorn, I think.
1596C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 29 *Poyson-tooth'd viper, impiously that bites The wombe of those who are her favorites.
5. a. Special Combs.: poison book = poison register; poison-cart (Austral.), a cart carrying poisoned meat for the destruction of the dingo; poison-cup, (a) a cup containing poison; (b) a cup or other vessel reputed to break on poison being poured into it; poison-flour, a name for sublimated arsenic trioxide (flowers of arsenic) in the process of refining; poison gas, any chemical that is released into the atmosphere as a gas or vapour to harm those who inhale it or absorb it through their skin; also attrib.; hence as v. trans.; poison green, a bright, sharp shade of green; poison-lime, a preparation of lime in which skins are immersed in order to remove the hair before tanning; poison oracle, a form of divination in which a Zande witch-doctor administers poison to a fowl and draws inferences from its effect on the bird; poison pen, one who writes anonymous letters with malicious, libellous, or scurrilous intent; also attrib., of or pertaining to such a person or letter; poison (also poisons, poisons') register, a register of the names of those to whom a poison or poisons have been made available; poison-ring, a ring by which poison was communicated in the grasp of the hand; poison-tower, a chamber in which the poisonous fumes are condensed in arsenic works; poison-vent, a channel through which the fumes pass into the poison-tower.
1930D. L. Sayers Strong Poison i. 12 She signed the *poison-book in the name of Mary Slater, and the handwriting has been identified as that of the prisoner. 1943G. Greene Ministry of Fear i. iii. 33 We'll look into the poison books. 1947A. Christie Labours of Hercules ii. 62, I never said anything about the missing arsenic. I even cooked the poison book! 1950‘A. Gilbert’ Is she Dead Too? iii. 46 He had brought a prescription that required..a drug only to be obtained by signing the Poison Book. 1978J. Symons Blackheath Poisonings iii. 152 His poison book's all in order, and there's this entry in it for arsenic.
1898‘R. Boldrewood’ Rom. Canvas Town 61 All this time the *poison-cart was kept going.
1826Mrs. Hemans Forest Sanct. i. xx, I flung it back, as guilt's own *poison-cup.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 56 According to the quality of the *poison-flour [previously called ‘arsenic meal’] it yields from 3/4 to 7/8 of its weight of the glass or enamel.
1915H. W. Wilson Great War IV. 336/2 After the great chemical experiment with *poison gas in April, the Germans had been able to advance to the manor-house. Ibid., The Duke of Würtemberg..had apparently become convinced, after his poison-gas victory in April, that chemical methods of making war were the most successful. 1922D. H. Lawrence Fantasia of Unconscious xi. 207 The problem of the future is a question of the strongest poison-gas. 1924T. Hardy Winter Words (1928) 171 After two thousand years of mass We've got as far as poison-gas. 1970R. Stetler Battle of Bogside 179 President Johnson..called a press conference to deny the poison gas charge. 1970G. Jackson Let. 4 Apr. in Soledad Brother (1971) 211 An enemy that would starve his body,..chain his body,..and poison-gas it. 1975tr. Melchior's Sleeper Agent (1976) ii. 39 Stacks of incendiary bombs and poison gas projectiles.
1926S. Lewis Mantrap x. 117 The *poison-green tufted velvet couch. 1937[see candy-pink s.v. candy n.1 2]. 1975P. G. Winslow Death of Angel x. 212 He drives a poison-green two-seater.
1883R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 372/1 The unhairing in lime-pits is done..with the so-called ‘*poison-lime’.
1937E. E. Evans-Pritchard Witchcraft, Oracles & Magic among Azande 10 The principal Zande oracles are: (a) benge, *poison oracle, which operates through the administration of strychnine to fowls, and formerly to human beings also. 1955M. Gluckman Custom & Conflict in Africa iv. 88 Each question is framed to allow of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to the problem, thus: ‘if X is the witch who is making my son ill, poison-oracle, kill the chicken; if X is not the witch, poison-oracle, spare the chicken’. 1972M. D. McLeod in Singer & Street Zande Themes 167 The Zande clearly considered the rubbing-board oracle less accurate than both the termite oracle and the poison oracle.
1914N.Y. World 11 Mar. 5/1 Women..crowded the Union County Court room..hoping to hear some plausible elucidation of the ‘*poison pen’ mystery. 1929M. Lief Hangover 302 The King of the Tabloids sat in his counting-house counting up the two and a half million circulation gained through the blood and scandal shed by..poison-pen letters. 1935D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night v. 100 Isn't our poison-pen rather silly to get all her spelling right? 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes ii. iii. 388 To all the other clergymen she was busy addressing poison-pen letters. 1973J. Thomson Death Cap vii. 93 She had seemed..a perfect front runner in the poison-pen stakes, the classic example of the embittered spinster. 1975D. Lodge Changing Places iii. 124 I've had what I believe is called a poison-pen letter from Euphoria, an anonymous letter.
1936Cook & LaWall Remington's Pract. Pharm. (ed. 8) lxxxiv. 1357 The *poison register must be always open for inspection by the proper authorities. 1978J. Symons Blackheath Poisonings iii. 150 He sent..Sergeant Miles to look at the poison registers.
1877W. Jones Finger-ring 433 A *poison ring of curious construction is described by Mr. Fairholt.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 499 In the case of Poisons being required it is absolutely necessary..that the *Poisons Register be signed at the time of purchase. 1957Encycl. Brit. XVII. 693/1 These poisons in their uncompounded form may only be supplied to persons known to the pharmacist and their sale must be recorded in the poisons' register. 1958H. G. Moss Retail Pharmacist's Handbk. xxiii. 360 Certain professional and trade users may obtain First Schedule poisons on a signed order instead of attending and signing the Poisons Register. 1971Gilbert & Sharp Pharmaceuticals xi. 140 First Schedule poisons may be sold without any prescription, but only if the purchaser is known to the pharmacist and signs the Poisons Register.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 55 A vertical section of the *poison tower. Ibid. 823 There are poison towers and extensive condensing chambers attached.
Ibid. 56 Pipes leading to the *poison vent.
b. esp. in names of plants (or parts of them) having poisonous qualities: poison-ash = poison-sumac; poison-bay, Illicium floridanum (family Magnoliaceæ), the leaves of which are reputed poisonous; poison-berry, any plant (or its fruit) of the genus Cestrum (family Solanaceæ), of the West Indies and Brazil; also, ‘the boraginaceous shrub Bourreria succulenta’ (Cent. Dict.); poison-bulb, one of several South African bulbous plants belonging to the family Amaryllidaceæ, esp. Boophane disticha; poison-bush, (a) a poisonous species of Euphorbia; (b) a West Indian shrub, Thevetia neriifolia (family Apocynaceæ); (c) Austral. , one of several plants bearing leaves harmful to cattle, esp. a species of Gastrolobium; poison-dogwood, poison-elder = poison-sumac; poison-flag, an American species of Iris (I. versicolor); poison-hemlock U.S., the common hemlock, Conium maculatum; poison-ivy, one of several trailing or climbing North American shrubs belonging to the genus Rhus (or Toxicodendron), esp. R. toxicodendron (or T. toxicaria), bearing leaves resembling ivy, and greenish flowers followed by white berries, and producing inflammation of the skin and other reactions when touched; also fig., an unpleasant person; poison-nut, (a) the violently poisonous seed of Tanghinia venenifera (family Apocynaceæ), used by the natives of Madagascar in trial by ordeal; also the tree; (b) = nux vomica (Webster 1864); poison-oak, the low-growing variety of Rhus Toxicodendron (see poison-ivy); also the allied R. diversiloba of Pacific N. America, which has similar properties; poison-pea, Swainsona Greyana (see next); poison-plant, name in Australia for several leguminous plants whose leaves are poisonous to cattle, as species of Gastrolobium, Swainsona Greyana, and Lotus australis; also, a name used for various plants harmful to man or livestock; poison-root (of Carolina), æsculus pavia, the twigs and roots of which were used to stupify fish; poison-sumac, Rhus vernix or Toxicodendron vernis , a tall N. American shrub with pinnate leaves, also called poison-ash or poison-elder, and having properties resembling those of the allied poison-ivy; poison vine, (a) a climbing plant of Mediterranean regions, Periploca græca (family Asclepiadaceæ), having poisonous milky juice (also called milkvine); (b) = poison-ivy; poison-weed = poison-ivy; poison-withe: see quot. See also poison-tree, poisonwood.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 323 *Poison Ash, Rhus. 1763W. Lewis Comm. Phil. Techn. 330 Mr. Catesby..describes one, called there the poison-ash, from whose trunk flows a liquid, black as ink.
1866Treas. Bot. 619 In Alabama..I[llicium] floridanum..has..acquired the name of *Poison-bay.
1756P. Browne Jamaica (1789) 173 Blue *Poison Berries... The nightingales are said to feed upon the berries of this shrub, which are reckoned very poisonous.
1822W. J. Burchell Trav. Interior S. Africa I. xxi. 539 Plants of Amaryllis toxicaria were..very abundant... This plant is well known to the Bushmen, on account of the virulent poison contained in its bulb. It is also known to the Colonists and Hottentots, by the name of Gift-bol (*Poison-bulb). 1866Treas. Bot. 181 B[uphane] toxicaria is called the Poison Bulb, and is said to be fatal to cattle. 1966E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo v. 82 The Poison Bulb, with its innocent blue-green fan of leaves, that they [sc. Bushmen] pounded for its deadly juice.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 323 *Poison Bush, Euphorbia. 1871Kingsley At Last i, It proved to be Thevetia neriifolia... This was the first..warning which we got not to meddle rashly with ‘poison-bush’. 1889J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 129 Gastrolobium spp... These plants are dangerous to stock and are hence called ‘*Poison Bushes’. Large numbers of cattle are lost annually in Western Australia through eating them. 1927M. M. Bennett Christison of Lammermoor xx. 185 There were quicksands and the dreaded poison-bush, Gastrolobium grandiflorum. 1965Austral. Encycl. VII. 157/2 Many species of Gastrolobium have, and nearly all species deserve, the name poison⁓bush or poison-plant.
1814J. Bigelow Florula Bostoniensis 72 Rhus vernix. *Poison dogwood. Swamp Sumach... Grows in bunches in wet swamps. 1958Poison-dogwood [see poison-elder].
1822A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 3) 428 Rhus vernix, poison sumach, *poison elder... Berries green, at length whitish. 1866Treas. Bot. 979 Poison Sumach or Poison Elder, is a tall shrub with pinnate leaves. 1958G. A. Petrides Field Guide to Trees & Shrubs 84 Names in common use, such as Poison-elder or Poison-dogwood, usually refer to Poison Sumac.
1845–50A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. 140 Species of Iris, one of which, the common blue flag,..is sometimes called *Poison flag.
Ibid. 151 *Poison hemlock, (Conium,) water parsnip,..water cowbane, are among the poisonous plants of this tribe.
1784Mem. Amer. Acad. I. 422 *Poison Ivy..produces the same kind of inflammations and eruptions..as the poison wood tree. 1832W. D. Williamson Hist. State Maine I. 130 Poison Ivy..is a dangerous medicine. 1857Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 34 By these rootlets..the Ivy of Europe, and our Poison Rhus,—here called Poison Ivy,—fasten themselves firmly to walls. 1883C. Phelps in Harper's Mag. Jan. 282/2 The poison-ivy was gorgeous with a fatal beauty. 1891M. E. Freeman N. England Nun 191 [She] saw Joseph Tenney's face through branches of pink dog-bane and over masses of poison-ivy. 1935M. de la Roche Young Renny xxvi. 265 Bright-coloured tendrils of poison ivy stretched toward their path. 1939‘B. Gray’ Miss Dynamite xvi. 179 So this is the charming little prairie flower that Norman's fallen in love with!.. Primrose, my foot! Her name's Poison Ivy! 1963W. Blunt Of Flowers & Village 29 We mayn't have these growing wild in England, nor the American poison ivy. 1971Rhodora LXXIII. 76 More than 350,000 cases of poison-ivy dermatitis are estimated for the United States per year. 1976F. Greenland Misericordia Drop ii. viii. 138 Those amiable characters, my personal poison ivy, who so conscientiously compile our Code of Procedure.
1857Henfrey Bot. §512 The seeds of..the Madagascar *Poison-nut are very deadly.
1743J. Clayton Flora Virginica 33 Rhus... *Poison-Oak. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 323 Poison Oak, Rhus. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. 42 An abominable shrub or weed called poison-oak, whose very neighbourhood is venomous to some. 1905G. E. Cole Early Oregon 29 Having been poisoned with poison oak so that I was completely blind, the others advised me to return. 1958G. A. Petrides Field Guide to Trees & Shrubs 81 Some authorities believe differences between the several forms of Poison-oak and Poison-ivy are inconsequential. 1971Rhodora LXXIII. 523 As the finer particles become less prevalent, the soil becomes more conducive to the growth of poison-oak.
1884Miller Plant-n., Swainsona Greyana, Darling River Pea, Horse-poison-plant,..or *Poison Pea, of Australia.
1866Treas. Bot. 521 A number of the species of this [Gastrolobium] and of allied genera are known in Western Australia as *Poison plants; and farmers lose annually a large number of cattle through their eating the foliage. Ibid. 522 Dr. Harvey says the worst of the Poison-plants is G[astrolobium] bilobum. 1881F. Oates Metabele Land & Victoria Falls xi. 243 The ‘poison plant’, growing low, and bearing a yellow plum-like fruit, was gathered on one occasion near the waggon-track. 1927J. Masefield Sard Harker iii. 121 Dangling from the boughs, there were strings of withered poison-ivy... He dodged the poison-plant. 1965Poison-plant [see poison-bush].
1712Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 424 Carolina *Poyson Root... Castaneæ Equinæ facie. Arbor..flore galeato spicato.
1817A. Eaton Man. Bot. 34 Rhus... vernix, (*poison sumach) glabrous panicle few-flowered. 1820J. C. Gilleland Ohio & Mississippi Pilot 261 Sumach... Most common in bottoms that are rich or at least moderately so... R[hus] pumilum (poison sumach). 1832W. D. Williamson Hist. State Maine I. 118 The poison Sumach occurs in the western, but very seldom, if ever, in the eastern part of the State. 1866Poison-sumach [see poison elder]. 1901C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 600 Poison Sumach, Poison Elder... Alleghenian, Carolinian, and Louisianian areas. 1978Washington Post 4 Aug. (Weekend Suppl.) 27/2 Poison ivy, poison sumac, and some species of baneberry have white fruits and are poisonous.
1709J. Lawson New Voyage to Carolina 101 The *Poison Vine is so called, because it colours the Hands of those who handle it. 1803A. Ellicott Jrnl. viii. 212 My journey up the river was disagreeable and painful, being blistered by the rhus radicans (poison vine) from head to feet. 1891M. E. Ryan Told in Hills ii. i. 24 Here and there a poison-vine flashed back defiance under its crimson banners. 1935Yale Review Sept. 174, I hear them [sc. horses] snortin' up the land where the pizen-vines grow around the sycamore stumps.
1624Capt. Smith Virginia 170 The poysoned weed [in the Bermudas] is much in shape like our English Iuy. margin, The *poison weed. 1856L. J. F. Jaeger Jrnl. 20 Sept. in Publ. Hist. Soc. S. Calif. (1928) XIV. 128, 2 of the mules died at the Tinajas Altas—I think they ate some of the *poison weed also.
1693Phil. Trans. XVII. 619 The *Poyson-Wyth of Barbados, which is a kind of Bryony.
B. adj.
1. Poisonous, poisoned, envenomed. Obs. exc. as coinciding with the attrib. use of the n. in 4 a.
1530Tindale Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 17 With what poison, deadly, and venomous hate hateth a man his enemy. Ibid. 18 To make him of so poison a nature. 1531Ibid. II. 143 Ye have chewed and mingled it with your poison spittle. 1533More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1063/2 A crosse.., the beholdynge wherof deuowred and destroyed the venome of al the poyson serpentes. 1769E. Bancroft Guiana 257 Their arms are..poison arrows. 1822Shelley Scenes fr. Faust ii. 78 They dart forth polypus-antennae, To blister with their poison spume The wanderer. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 464 If he claims the ordeal,..he usually has to take a poison drink.
2. Wicked, dangerous; hateful, objectionable. U.S. dial.
1839C. F. Briggs Adventures of Harry Franco I. 18 ‘I presume there's no occasion for hurrying,’ said the driver. ‘Yes there is though, you pisen critter,’ said a passenger. 1850‘M. Tensas’ Odd Leaves from Life of Louisiana ‘Swamp Doctor’ 152 Lizey Johnson's middle darter, Prinsanna,..left her husband in the state of Georgy, and kum to Luzaanny an' got marred to a nother man, the pisen varmint, to do sich as that and her own laful husband. 1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 225 B'long to a church! Why boss he's ben the pizenest kind of a Free-will Babtis' for forty year. They ain't no pizener ones 'n' what he is.
C. adv. Intensely, extremely. Chiefly U.S. dial.
1840C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer I. 61 The night was pison cold, I tell ye. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxvii. 275 The funeral sermon was very good, but pison long and tiresome. 1892R. L. Stevenson Let. 31 Jan. in Wks. (1923) XXXIII. 23 This is a poison bad world for the romancer, this Anglo Saxon world. 1894‘Mark Twain’ Pudd'nhead Wilson xiv. 194 You's got to be pison good, en let him see it. 1926in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 464/2 Pizen-neat.
Add:[5.] [a.] poison pill, (a) a pill containing poison; spec. one taken in extreme circumstances (by secret agents, etc.) to commit suicide; (b) transf., any of a number of ploys (such as a conditional rights issue) adopted by the victim of an unwelcome take-over bid to make itself unattractive to the bidder (orig. U.S.).
1946P. Bottome Lifeline xxxv. 269 With his hands tied securely behind him Mark could not reach the poison pill he had been given for such emergencies. 1975Times 29 Aug. 6/8 There are many organizations working against Mrs Gandhi... Ours is serious... We all carry poison pills in our pockets. 1983N.Y. Times 19 June iii. 14/4 Lenox played hard to get..and implemented a novel anti-takeover devise to discourage Brown–Forman Distillers takeover bid. The move is called the ‘Poison Pill defense’. 1985N.Y. Times Mag. 27 Jan. 10/3 My favorite repellent is the poison pill... To make stock less attractive to sharks, a new class of stock may be issued: this is ‘a preferred stock or warrant..that becomes valuable only if another company acquires control. Because it becomes valuable to the target, it becomes costly to the buyer; when the buyer takes the bite, to follow the metaphor, he has to swallow the poison pill’. 1985Sunday Times 20 Oct. 59/1 A poison pill granted to Merrill gave it the right to buy SCM's two major businesses.
▪ II. poison, v.|ˈpɔɪz(ə)n|
Forms: see the n.; also 4 poisone, 5 poysn, -yn, poysne, poysyn, (posyn), 6 poisin.
[ME. poison-en, a. OF. poisonn-er to give to drink (cf. mod.F. empoisonner to poison), f. poison poison, or refashioned from an OF. *poisnier:—L. pōtiōn-āre to give (any one) to drink, to drug, f. pōtiō-nem drink, poisonous draught, potion. So Pr. pozionar, Sp. ponzoñar.]
1. a. trans. To administer poison to; to introduce poison into the system of (man or animal); to kill or injure by means of poison, poisonous gases, etc.
13..Coer de L. 2732 He leet taken alle the cors..And caste into the watyr off our welle, Us to poyson and to quelle. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1095 Poysened & parlatyk & pyned in fyres. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 333 Þe pope & þe emperour myȝte priuely be poysined bi suche fadres. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 303 He was i-poysened wiþ venym Þat was i-doo in his chalys. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 19 Þis same sowdan was puysond at Damasc. 1483Cath. Angl. 295/1 To Puson, toxicare. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 234 b, Lyke as the worme yt is crusshed or poysoned. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 260 b, The Pope hireth men to poyson other. 1676G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. iii, Sir Fop. I sat near one of 'em..and was almost Poison'd with a pair of Cordivant Gloves he wears. Lov. Oh!.. How I hate the smell! 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 813 The Water-Snake..lyes poyson'd in his Bed. 1786W. Thomson Watson's Philip III (1839) 327 He was charged with having poisoned the queen. 1802R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 35 Peer Jemmy was puzzen'd, they say, by a black. 1879Froude Cæsar 119 Boys of ten years had learnt the art of poisoning their fathers.
b. To produce morbid effects in (the blood, a wound, a limb, etc.) by impregnation or infusion of poison, decomposing organic matter, ptomaine, etc. Cf. blood-poisoning in poisoning vbl. n. b.
1605Shakes. Lear iii. vi. 70 Tooth that poysons if it bite. 1635J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 203 The raw nocturnall ayre that had poysoned the wound. 1899J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. I. No. 38. 157 Mrs. M ― had been pushing back the nail-fold at the root of the nail with a penknife and had as she suspected poisoned it. a1907Mod. His hand was poisoned by being pierced with an old nail. The bite of some insects may poison the blood. A foot poisoned by the action of a dye-stuff on an excoriated part.
2. To impregnate, taint, or infect (air, water, etc.) with poison so as to render it poisonous or baneful; to charge or smear (a weapon) with poison. See also poisoned ppl. a. 2.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 62 Thru..corrupcion Of þe ayre þat he wald poyson. 1548Elyot, Inficere pocula veneno, to poison the drynk, to put poyson in the cuppe. 1552Huloet, Poyson a place wyth carrayne, funesto. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 127 As if one should poison a Conduite hedde, or a River, from whence all menne fetche their water. 1612Webster White Devil Wks. (Rtldg.) 36/2 To have poison'd his prayer-book, or a pair of beads, The pummel of his saddle,..Or the handle of his racket. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 725 A Plague..Pois'ning the Standing Lakes, and Pools Impure. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxvii, Indians..engaged in poisoning the points of their arrows.
3. fig.
a. To corrupt, pervert morally; to turn to error or evil, influence perversely.
1395Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 99 It is feynid now that symple prestis wolen poisone men with gastli venym, that is, errour othir eresie. 1550J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds §68 E ij b, Monster de Labright..whose ancetours you poysoned with money causyng them to be traytours to Englande. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 112 Did you, by indirect, and forced courses Subdue, and poyson this yong Maides affections? 1701Rowe Amb. Step-Moth. ii. ii. 787 Hast thou not With thy false Arts poyson'd his Peoples Loyalty? 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. vii. 137 There was another voice at the royal ear, ever ready to poison the royal mind.
b. To prove destructive or fatal to (an action, state, condition, etc.).
1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 39 Meeting heere the other Messenger, Whose welcome I perceiu'd had poison'd mine. 1687Boyle Martyrd. Theodora ix, The deadly draught..poysoned not his [Socrates'] reputation,..but that of his accusers and his judges. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 40 Lest his ill Arts or his malicious Tongue Shou'd poison, or bewitch my growing Song. 1765Foote Commissary i. Wks. 1799 II. 15 The slightest suspicion wou'd poison your project. 1894Hall Caine Manxman iii. x, Tom could not deny himself a word of bitterness to poison the pleasure.
4. transf.
a. To render (a thing) foul and unfit for its purpose by some noxious or deleterious addition or application.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lix. 9 That fulle dismemberit hes my meter, And poysound it with strang salpeter. a1693Ludlow Mem. (1771) 31 Confessing that he had accordingly poisoned two cannon and the Harquebuz that was broken. 1706Phillips, To Poison a Piece, a Term in Gunnery. See To Cloy and to Nail. 1765Museum Rust. III. 284 Some..were exactly level, so as to be quite poisoned with the wet, which could not drain off. 1816F. Vanderstraeten Impr. Agric. 6 The land will be poisoned with noxious roots and plants. 1884C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iii. 66/2 They pronounced it to be full of arsenic and antimony; so..that their furnaces were, as they said, ‘poisoned’, and rendered unfit for refining.
b. Chem. Of a substance: to reduce or destroy the activity of (a catalyst, or occas. an electrode). Cf. poison n. 2 c.
1913in C. Ellis Hydrogenation Oils (1914) 311 The use of chlorine would ‘poison’ the catalyst. 1921G. G. Henderson Catalysis in Industr. Chem. iv. 72 Infinitesimal quantities of chlorine, bromine or iodine absolutely poison the metal, the presence of even a minute trace of bromine in phenol, for instance, preventing the latter being changed into cyclohexanol. 1937Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers LXXX. 198/2 An antimony electrode..lends itself particularly well to the recording of hydrogen-ion concentration, since this electrode is ‘poisoned’ by very few substances. 1965H. H. Willard et al. Instrumental Methods Chem. Analysis (ed. 4) xxii. 588 The quinhydrone electrode is quickly prepared, develops its potential rapidly, and is not readily poisoned. 1972Times 27 Sept. 20/3 Lead contaminants in fuel tend to ‘poison’ catalytic elements that help burn exhaust more completely in a converter mounted in the exhaust pipe. 1974Bandtock & Hanson Success in Chem. xiv. 318 Vanadium (v) oxide is a reasonably efficient catalyst for the oxidation of sulphur dioxide and is not readily poisoned.
c. Nuclear Sci. To act as a poison in (a nuclear reactor or fuel). Also occas., to add a poison to (a reactor). Cf. poison n. 2 d.
1945H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes viii. 80 Other fission products are being produced also. These consist typically of unstable and relatively unfamiliar nuclei so that it was originally impossible to predict how great an undesirable effect they would have on the multiplication constant. Such deleterious effects are called poisoning. 1948C. Pincher Into Atomic Age 38 Fragments from the split uranium 235 atoms collect in the slugs and..are said to ‘poison’ the uranium. 1960Wehr & Richards Physics of Atom xi. 328 This radioactivity is due principally to the fission products which poisoned the fuel element. 1968F. Kertesz Lang. Nucl. Sci. (Oak Ridge Nat. Lab. TM 2367) 23 Nuclear jargon is filled with gloomy, funereal terms: fuel elements are transported in coffins and reactors are poisoned to control them.
5. Saltworks. (See quots.)
1885Holland Chesh. Gloss., Poisoning,..said of a pan when some ingredient is put into it to make the brine work differently. 1894Baring-Gould Queen of L. II. 16 A little glue or soft soap is put into the brine—this is called ‘poisoning’ it—to collect the impurities. |