ratsbanen.
/ˈratsbeɪn/, U.S. /ˈrætsˌbeɪn/, West African English /ˈratsˌben/ 1. Rat poison; esp. arsenic trioxide (white arsenic) or some other compound of arsenic. Also figurative.
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the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > poison > [noun] > rat-poison
ratton-bread1394
ratsbane1488
ratton bane?1543
ratton poison1590
rat poison1674
raticide1847
rodenticide1903
ANTU1945
1488 Acct. P.R.O.:C 47/37/14/43 For Rates ban ijd.
1523 in J. Nichols Illustr. Antient Times Eng. (1797) 108 For milke and rattisbane for the rats in the church.
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 193 That peece of Alchimy, that can turne the Rattes-bane of Villany into the Balme of honesty.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Sublimé, Sublimatum, or Sublimie, Arsenick, Ratsbane.
1633 W. Prynne Histrio-mastix i. iv. i. 140 Playes are Rats-bane to government of Commonweales.
1679 J. Dryden Troilus & Cressida Epil. 70 As we strow Rats-bane when we vermine fear.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 140 Endeavours were us'd..to destroy the Mice and Rats..by laying Rats-Bane.
1779 G. W. Beekman Let. Apr. 14 in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) III. 1324 This Day Departed this Life my Frend Mr. Dore By as I suppose Taking a Large Dose of Rats Beane..he being in Death [debt] a Bout four Thousand pounds and had Nothing to pay With.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. v. i. 261 Running in debt is ratsbane to him.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus i. 25 Black ratsbane, which That very Rat, who..Nurtures himself on poison, dare not touch.
1877 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Dec. 723/1 What was that cat's name that eat a keg of ratsbane by mistake over at Hooper's?
1919 W. G. Harger Handbk. Highway Engin. xii. 482 Arsenic, ratsbane, Paris green.
1991 Past & Present Aug. 92 It also deepened the suspicion of foul play, especially since the mercury sulphate that drenched every winding-sheet was familiar to the people as ratsbane.
2003 J. McManus Positively Fifth Street 264 We spent our winnings on albums, beer, cigarettes, gas, guitars, vodka, lids of fifth-rate pot laced with God knows what ratsbane.
2. † a. Nux vomica, the seeds of the strychnine tree, Strychnos nux-vomica. Obsolete.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants yielding poison > [noun] > trees or shrubs yielding poison > nux vomica tree > nux vomica seed
nux vomicaa1398
vomic nut1563
vomiting nut1575
ox-vomit1772
crow-fig1778
ratsbane1826
1826 Lancet 2 Sept. 732/2 A young woman, of the class of ‘unfortunates’, was brought..having taken, in a fit of desperation, a quantity of rat's bane—nux vomica.
1842 T. Andrew Cycl. Domest. Med. & Surg. 406/1 Ratsbane, or the Strychnos Nux vomica. This is the fruit of a species of strychnos growing and imported from the East Indies.
1861 Hand-bk. for Emergencies (Cassell's Elem. Hand-bks.) 43 Nux vomica—Ratsbane.—The symptoms of poisoning by ratsbane are those of inebriety, vertigo, rigidity of the extremities..and suffocation.
b. The highly poisonous fruit of the West African shrub Dichapetalum toxicarium (family Dichapetalaceae); the plant itself. Cf. rat poison n. at rat n.1 Compounds 2.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > African
Aspalathus1601
othonne1601
honey flower1712
amber tree1719
Melianthus1731
rhinoceros bush1731
Hottentot cherry1740
sparmannia1801
renosterbos1822
ratsbane1846
black parsley1861
tail-grape1884
milk-tree1885
poison-bush1885
rooibos1893
Natal bottlebrush1907
moonflower1913
1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 583 The fruit of Chailletia toxicaria is said to be poisonous, it is called Ratsbane in Sierra Leone.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 260/1 C. toxicaria, a native of Sierra Leone, where the seeds of this plant are said to be used by the colonists for poisoning rats, and by them called Ratsbane.
1904 Jrnl. Afr. Soc. 4 110 The Chailletia toxicara belongs to the natural order of Chailletiaceæ, and is known as ratsbane.
1962 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 6 Jan. 15/6 Ratsbane was extensively used in Africa at one time as a rat killer, an arrow poison and a fatal contaminant of enemy water supplies.
1999 Jrnl. Fluorine Chem. 100 129/2 The plant [sc. Dichapetalum toxicarium] is frequently responsible for livestock losses and the local name, ratsbane, indicates its widespread use as a rodenticide.
c. English regional (south-western). Chervil, Anthriscus cerefolium. rare.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > herb > [noun] > chervil
chervila750
cerfoil14..
ratsbane1886
1886 W. Som. Word-bk. Rat's Bane, chervil. A common wild umbelliferous plant, in appearance something like hemlock—probably mistaken for it.
Derivatives
ˈratsbaned adj. poetic poisoned with ratsbane.
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the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > [adjective] > poisoned
poisoneda1400
intoxicate1480
empoisoned1566
ratsbaned1638
strychnined1862
1638 R. Younge Drunkard's Char. 269 Which makes them like ratsband Rats, drinke and vent.
1849 J. Craig New Universal Dict. Ratsbaned, ratsbayned... Poisoned by ratsbane... Like Ratsban'd rats.—Junius.
ˈratsbany adj. poisonous.Apparently an isolated use.
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1937 E. Blunden Elegy 24 One desperate villain got Hold on a pottle-pot,..And sets pot to mouth And once again moistens his ratsbany drouth.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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