different between poison vs elixir

English

Etymology

From Middle English poisoun, poyson, poysone, puyson, puisun, from Old French puison, poison, from Latin p?tio, p?ti?nis (“drink, a draught, a poisonous draught, a potion”), from p?t? (“I drink”). Displaced native Old English ?tor. See also potion and potable.

Pronunciation

• enPR: poi'z?n, IPA^(key): /?p??z(?)n/
• Rhymes: -??z?n
• Hyphenation: poi?son

Noun

poison (countable and uncountable, plural poisons)

1. A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism when ingested.

2. Something that harms a person or thing.

3. (informal) An intoxicating drink; a liquor. (note: this sense is chiefly encountered in the phrases "name your poison" and "what's your poison ?")

   — What's your poison?

   — I'll have a glass of whisky.

4. (chemistry) Any substance that inhibits catalytic activity.
   • 2013, Huazhang Liu, Ammonia Synthesis Catalysts: Innovation and Practice (page 693)

     The temperature effect of poisons. The influence of poison on the catalyst can be different with the change of reaction conditions.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with venom

Synonyms

• (substance that is harmful): atter, bane, contaminant, pollutant, toxin

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

poison (third-person singular simple present poisons, present participle poisoning, simple past and past participle poisoned)

1. (transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse (somebody).

2. (transitive) To pollute; to cause to become poisonous.

3. (transitive) To cause to become much worse.

4. (transitive) To cause (someone) to hate or to have unfair negative opinions.

5. (chemistry) To inhibit the catalytic activity of.
6. (transitive, computing) To place false information into (a cache) as part of an exploit.
   • 2013, Ronald L. Mendell, Investigating Information-based Crimes (page 93)

     In this technique, the hacker poisons the cache to launch malware into Web pages.

Synonyms

• (to pollute): contaminate, pollute, taint
• (to cause to become worse): corrupt, taint

Derived terms

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “poison”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• poison in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

French

Etymology

From Old French, inherited from Latin p?tio, p?ti?nis. Doublet of potion, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwa.z??/

Noun

poison m (plural poisons)

1. poison

Derived terms

• empoisonner
  • empoisonnement
• poisonneux

Further reading

• “poison” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Noun

poison

1. Alternative form of poisoun

Old French

Etymology

From Latin p?tio, p?ti?nis.

Noun

poison f (oblique plural poisons, nominative singular poison, nominative plural poisons)

1. poison
2. potion

Descendants

• ? Middle English: poisoun
  • English: poison
• French: poison

Spanish

Etymology

From French poison. Doublet of poción.

Noun

poison m (plural póisones)

1. (Louisiana) poison

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin elixir, from Arabic ????????????? (al-?iks?r), from Ancient Greek ?????? (x?ríon, “medicinal powder”), from ????? (x?rós, “dry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l?ks?(?)/, /?-/, /-??(?)/
• Rhymes: -?ks?(?)

Noun

elixir (plural elixirs)

1. (alchemy) A liquid which converts lead to gold.
   • 2002, Philip Ball, The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2004, p. 59:

     For Chinese alchemists, gold held the key to the Elixir, the Eastern equivalent of the Philosopher's Stone.

2. (alchemy) A substance or liquid which is believed to cure all ills and give eternal life.
3. (by extension) The alleged cure for all ailments; cure-all, panacea.
   • 2015, The Boston Globe, Steven Pinker, The moral imperative for bioethics:

     The silver-bullet cancer cures of yesterday’s newsmagazine covers, like interferon and angiogenesis inhibitors, disappointed the breathless expectations, as have elixirs such as antioxidants, Vioxx, and hormone replacement therapy.

4. (pharmacy) A sweet flavored liquid (usually containing a small amount of alcohol) used in compounding medicines to be taken by mouth in order to mask an unpleasant taste.
   • 1906, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association (volume 47, pages 872-875)

     The subcommittee's report to the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry shows that the action of somnos is practically identical with that of a 5 per cent elixir of hydrated chloral.

Derived terms

• elixir of life

Translations

Asturian

Verb

elixir

1. to choose
2. to elect

Synonyms

• escoyer

Dutch

Etymology

From Medieval Latin elixir, from Arabic ????????????? (al-?iks?r), from Ancient Greek ?????? (x?ríon, “medicinal powder”), from ????? (x?rós, “dry”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e??l?k.s?r/, /?e??l?k.s?r/
• Hyphenation: elixir

Noun

elixir n (plural elixirs, diminutive elixirtje n)

1. Alternative form of elixer

Derived terms

• maagelixir

Galician

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin eligo. Doublet of esleer.

Compare Portuguese eleger and Spanish elegir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?.li.??i?]

Verb

elixir (first-person singular present elixo, first-person singular preterite elixín, past participle elixido)

1. to choose, elect
   • 1418, Á. Rodríguez González (ed.), Libro do Concello de Santiago (1416-1422). Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega, page 85:

     para que dos ditos dose omes o dito señor arçobispo o a quel que seu poder para elo touvese tomase et eligise dous deles que os lle aprovuese et os dese por alcalles enna dita çidade en quel anno

     so that of that twelve men said lord archbishop, or anyone who his power has at the momment, takes and chooses two of them, and that he approves and gives them as mayors of said city for that year

   Synonym: escoller

Conjugation

Etymology 2

From Medieval Latin elixir, from Arabic ????????????? (al-?iks?r), from Ancient Greek ?????? (x?ríon, “medicinal powder”), from ????? (x?rós, “dry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?.lik.?si?]

Noun

elixir m (plural elixires)

1. elixir

References

• “eligir” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “elig” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “elexir” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “elixir” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “elixir” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Portuguese

Noun

elixir m (plural elixires)

1. (alchemy) elixir (liquid which was believed to turn non-precious metals to gold)
2. (fiction) a magical potion

Romanian

Etymology

From French élixir

Noun

elixir n (plural elixire)

1. elixir

Declension

Spanish

Noun

elixir m (plural elixires)

1. Alternative spelling of elíxir