different between poison vs theriac

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

Alternative forms

• theriaca

Etymology

From Middle French thériaque, from Medieval Latin theriaca, from Ancient Greek ??????? (th?riak?, “antidote”) feminine form of ???????? (th?riakós, “concerning venomous beasts”), from ??? (th?r, “beast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [???.?i..?k], [???.?i..?k]

Noun

theriac (plural theriacs)

1. (historical, pharmacology) A supposed universal antidote against poison, especially snake venom; specifically, one such developed in the 1st century as an improvement on mithridate.
   • 1975, Guido Majno, The Healing Hand, Harvard University Press, 1991, paperback edition, page 415,

     From then on galene became the theriac par excellence, known simply as theriac, and there never was a more successful drug. […] Those who could afford it gulped down a bean-sized lump of theriac for practically everything from the Black Death to nothing at all, as a preventive.

   • 2010, Richard Swiderski, Poison Eaters, Universal-Publishers, page 54,

     A number of theriacs and mithridatia appear in the writings of ancient doctors, but it is rare to find an account of how one of them was used and the effect it had.

2. (obsolete) Treacle; molasses.

Usage notes

• Originally developed in antiquity for kings and used as both preventive and antidote, it came to be regarded as a panacea. In mediaeval times it was thought effective against the bubonic plague and was known among English apothecaries as Venice treacle.

Translations

Adjective

theriac (comparative more theriac, superlative most theriac)

1. (obsolete) Theriacal; medicinal.

See also

• mithridate
• panacea
• treacle
• Venice treacle

Anagrams

• Archite, Rhaetic