mephitic
/mɪˈfɪtɪk
/adjective literary
(Especially of a gas or vapour) foul-smelling; noxious: the cloud of mephitic vapours lingered above our heads...
- The revelation gave a new frisson to such descriptions as that of Silas Wegg, stumping triumphantly over the mounds, his wooden leg puncturing the surface crust, leaving a trail of mephitic vapours behind him.
- Black's student Daniel Rutherford called this gas mephitic air instead: mephitis is a noxious emission in legend, thought to emanate from the earth and cause pestilence.
- But why did all become so nasty in the last few years, so raucous, so mephitic?
Origin
Early 17th century: from late Latin mephiticus, from mephitis 'noxious exhalation'.