I. poi ‧ son 1 /ˈpɔɪz ə n/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: 'drink, poisonous drink, poison' , from Latin potio ; ⇨ ↑ potion ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] 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 . [countable] 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 (4)
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ take/swallow poison
He committed suicide by taking poison.
▪ give somebody poison
She admitted two charges of giving poison to her daughter.
▪ administer poison formal (=give it to someone)
He could not have administered the poison that had put Mark in a coma.
▪ put poison in something
She put poison in his wine.
▪ lace something with poison (=put poison in something)
He laced the emperor's tea with poison.
▪ put poison down (=put it somewhere to kill an animal)
One way of getting rid of rats or mice is to put poison down.
■ adjectives
▪ a deadly poison
The berries contain a deadly poison.
▪ a slow-acting/quick-acting poison
Cyanide is a very strong, quick-acting poison.
▪ a virulent poison (=one that makes someone very ill or kills them)
Scorpions produce a virulent poison.
■ phrases
▪ a dose of poison (=an amount of poison)
He had taken a massive dose of poison.
▪ a trace of poison (=a small amount of poison that is still present somewhere)
Traces of the poison were found in the family car.
II. poison 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
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 somebody with something
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.
5 . poisoned chalice an important job that someone is given, which is likely to cause them a lot of trouble
—poisoner noun [countable]
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THESAURUS
▪ spoil to have a bad effect on something so that it is much less attractive, enjoyable etc:
New housing developments are spoiling the countryside.
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The bad weather completely spoiled our holiday.
▪ ruin to spoil something completely and permanently:
Using harsh soap to wash your face can ruin your skin.
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The argument ruined the evening for me.
▪ mar written to spoil something by making it less attractive or enjoyable:
His handsome Arab features were marred by a long scar across his face.
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Outbreaks of fighting marred the New Year celebrations.
▪ detract from something to slightly spoil something that is generally very good, beautiful, or impressive:
The huge number of tourists rather detracts from the city’s appeal.
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There were a few minor irritations, but this did not detract from our enjoyment of the holiday.
▪ undermine to spoil something that you have been trying to achieve:
The bombings undermined several months of careful negotiations.
▪ sour to spoil a friendly relationship between people or countries:
The affair has soured relations between the UK and Russia.
▪ poison to spoil a close relationship completely, so that people can no longer trust each other:
Their marriage was poisoned by a terrible dark secret.
▪ mess something up informal to spoil something important or something that has been carefully planned:
If there’s any delay, it will mess up our whole schedule.