poison

noun

/ˈpɔɪzn/

[countable, uncountable]Idioms

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a substance that causes death or harm if it gets into the body
- Some mushrooms contain a deadly poison.
- How did he die? Was it poison?
- The dog was killed by rat poison (= poison intended to kill rats).
- to hunt with poison arrows
- bombs containing poison gas
- She had laced his drink with poison.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- potent
- powerful
- strong
- …
… of poison
- trace
verb + poison
- administer
- give somebody
- inject
- …
poison + noun
- gas
- pill
- arrow
- …
See full entry
an idea, a feeling, etc. that is extremely harmful
- the poison of racial hatred
Extra Examples
- These words were pure poison to me.
- groups that are spreading the poison of sectarianism

Word OriginMiddle English (denoting a harmful medicinal draught): from Old French poison ‘magic potion’, from Latin potio(n-) ‘potion’, related to potare ‘to drink’.

Idioms

one man’s meat is another man’s poison

(saying) used to say that different people like different things; what one person likes very much, another person does not like at all

what’s your poison?

(old-fashioned, informal, humorous) used to ask somebody what alcoholic drink they would like

poison

verb

/ˈpɔɪzn/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they poison	/ˈpɔɪzn/ /ˈpɔɪzn/
he / she / it poisons	/ˈpɔɪznz/ /ˈpɔɪznz/
past simple poisoned	/ˈpɔɪznd/ /ˈpɔɪznd/
past participle poisoned	/ˈpɔɪznd/ /ˈpɔɪznd/
-ing form poisoning	/ˈpɔɪəznɪŋ/ /ˈpɔɪzənɪŋ/

Idioms

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to harm or kill a person or an animal by giving them poison
- poison somebody/yourself He was accused of poisoning his wife.
- Thousands are at risk of being poisoned by fumes from faulty heaters.
- Poisoning the rats is expensive and harmful to the environment.
- poison somebody/yourself with something In the last chapter, she poisons herself with arsenic.
to put poison in or on something
- poison something a poisoned arrow
- Someone had been poisoning his food.
- Large sections of the river have been poisoned by toxic waste from factories.
- Exhaust fumes are poisoning our cities.
- poison something with something The chocolates had been poisoned with cyanide.
poison something to have a bad effect on something
- His comment served only to poison the atmosphere still further.
- She succeeded in poisoning their minds against me.
- I hope that if we do have disagreements they won't poison our relationship.

Word OriginMiddle English (denoting a harmful medicinal draught): from Old French poison ‘magic potion’, from Latin potio(n-) ‘potion’, related to potare ‘to drink’.

Idioms

a poisoned chalice

(especially British English) a thing that seems attractive when it is given to somebody but which soon becomes unpleasant
- He inherited a poisoned chalice when he took over the job as union leader.