poison

poi|son¹ [ˈpɔızən] n

[Date: 1200-1300; : Old French; Origin: 'drink, poisonous drink, poison', from Latin potio; POTION]

1.) [U and C]

a substance that can cause death or serious illness if you eat it, drink it etc

▪ Belladonna and red arsenic are deadly poisons .

▪ a box of rat poison (=poison to kill rats)

▪ He swallowed some type of poison.

2.)

something such as an emotion or idea that makes you behave badly or become very unhappy

▪ Hatred is a poison that will destroy your life.

3.) what's your poison?

old-fashioned spoken a humorous way of asking which alcoholic drink someone would like

→one man's meat is another man's poison at ↑meat

poison ²

poison² v [T]

1.) to give someone poison, especially by adding it to their food or drink, in order to harm or kill them

▪ She was accused in 1974 of poisoning her second husband, Charles.

▪ He killed several people by poisoning their tea.

poison sb with sth

▪ Helms attempted to poison his whole family with strychnine.

2.) if a substance poisons someone, it makes them sick or kills them

▪ Thousands of children were poisoned by radiation.

3.) to make land, rivers, air etc dirty and dangerous, especially by the use of harmful chemicals

▪ Pesticides are poisoning our rivers.

4.) to have very harmful and unpleasant effects on someone's mind, emotions, or a situation

▪ Her childhood had been poisoned by an abusive stepfather.

▪ The law will only serve to poison relations between the US and Mexico.

▪ Television violence is poisoning the minds of young people.

>poisoner n