noxiousadj.n.

a1500 Hymnal in R. S. Loomis Medieval Stud. in Memory G. S. Loomis (1927) 480 (MED) Vitemus omne noxium..Lat vs eschew all thyng þat noxius is, In owr bodyes þat no stryng amisse Be fond.

1606 N. Baxter Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia sig. F All hurtfull wormes in the earth it doth kill, And all noxious humors in the bodie spill.

1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 221 Many would have it an unprofitable excrement and of a noxious or hurtful quality.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 121. ¶1 That seeming Sagacity in Animals, which..makes them naturally avoid whatever is noxious or unwholsome?

1742 D. Hume Ess. Moral & Polit. II. vii. 122 The Body, full of noxious Humours, feels the Torment of its multiply'd Diseases.

1780 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 70 p. x Much has been written by authors concerning the activity of these American poisons... The very smell of them was thought to be noxious, on the bare opening of the vessel.

1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. iii. 87 The liver is always given to the dogs, and that may possibly be the noxious part.

1880 S. Haughton Six Lect. Physical Geogr. iv. 190 It blows over the whole island steadily, a cold noxious wind.

1918 H. W. Wilson Great War XI. 454 French soldiers wearing the masks, fitted with goggles and respirators, that rendered them immune to noxious gases.

1991 Green Mag. Feb. 17/3 An engine which produces half the noxious emissions of the best diesels currently available.

a1618 J. Sylvester Iob Triumphant in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 924 On the Noxious will he pittie take, For th'Innocent; and spare them for thy sake.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. i Noxious, guilty.

1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 171 Whether Magicians and Astrologers be..noxious, or guilty of a diabolicall compact, and commerce.

1656 J. Bramhall Replic. to Bishop of Chalcedon iii. 130 No man or Society of men can be justly punished..because they are noxious, unless they be noxious in the eye of the Law.

1763 in G. Lamoine Charges to Grand Jury (1992) 393 These are unworthy members of the church, and not only disgraceful, but noxious members of society.

1799 W. Godwin St. Leon III. viii. 194 He saw no doubt that I was one of these noxious and enormous reprobates, he exhorted me to make a voluntary confession of my evil deeds.

1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre I. iv. 54 I saw myself transformed under Mr. Brocklehurst's eye into an artful, noxious child, and what could I do to remedy the injury?

1873 Presbyterian Q. & Princeton Rev. 2 220 The law of self-preservation..proceeds against the criminal, because he is noxious.

1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways I. i. 10 In delicate situations the chatterer is noxious.

1992 N.Y. Times 13 Dec. ix. 6/4 What they found most noxious about Jamie was the ‘look-ist’ aspect of him.

1993 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 25 Mar. 32/2 If indeed God troubled with human enemies, the most noxious are surely those who defame his name by portraying him as a patron of kidnappers.