† hebenonhebonhebonan.
Names given by Shakespeare and Marlowe to some substance having a poisonous juice. Commentators have variously identified the word with ebon, henbane, and German eibe, eibenbaum the yew. Gower has hebenus apparently in a similar sense.
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the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > poison > [noun] > other poisonous substances
hebenonc1592
yellow rain1755
asphyxiant1888
syntoxoid1901
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 103 Of hebenus that slepy tre.]
c1592 C. Marlowe Jew of Malta iii, in Dramatic Wks. (1840) 164/1 In few, the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane, The juice of hebon, and Cocytus' breath.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 62 Vpon my secure houre Thy vncle came, with iuyce of Hebona [1623 Hebenon] In a viall.
1789 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. II 111 Brews her black Hebenon, and stealing near, Pours the curst venom in his tortured ear.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.c1592