Adjacent Words

Venom definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VEN'OM, n. [L. venenum, venor, to hunt, to drive or chase; venio, to come. See Venus, etc.]
1. Poison; matter fatal or injurious to life. Venom is generally used to express noxious matter that is applied externally, or that is discharged from animals, as that of bites and stings of serpents, scorpions, etc.; and poison, to express substances taken into the stomach.
2. Spite; malice.
VEN'OM, v.t. To poison; to infect with venom. [Little used, but envenom is in use and elegant. Venom may be elegantly used in poetry.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: toxin secreted by animals; secreted by certain snakes and poisonous insects (e.g., spiders and scorpions)
2: feeling a need to see others suffer [syn: malice, maliciousness, spite, spitefulness, venom]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English venim, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *venimen, alteration of Latin venenum magic charm, drug, poison; akin to Latin venus love, charm — more at win Date: 13th century 1. poisonous matter normally secreted by some animals (as snakes, scorpions, or bees) and transmitted to prey or an enemy chiefly by biting or stinging; broadly material that is poisonous 2. ill will, malevolence II. transitive verb Date: 14th century envenom

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a poisonous fluid secreted by snakes, scorpions, etc., usu. transmitted by a bite or sting. 2 malignity; virulence of feeling, language, or conduct. Derivatives: venomed adj. Etymology: ME f. OF venim, var. of venin ult. f. L venenum poison

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Venom Ven"om, n. [OE. venim, OF. venim, F. venin, L. veneum. Cf. Venenate.] 1. Matter fatal or injurious to life; poison; particularly, the poisonous, the poisonous matter which certain animals, such as serpents, scorpions, bees, etc., secrete in a state of health, and communicate by thing or stinging. Or hurtful worm with cankered venom bites. --Milton. 2. Spite; malice; malignity; evil quality. Chaucer. ``The venom of such looks.'' --Shak. Syn: Venom; virus; bane. See Poison.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Venom Ven"om, v. t. [OE. venimen, OF. venimer, L. venenare. See Venom, n.] To infect with venom; to envenom; to poison. [R.] ``Venomed vengeance.'' --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(venoms) 1. You can use venom to refer to someone's feelings of great bitterness and anger towards someone. He reserved particular venom for critics of his foreign policy... 2. The venom of a creature such as a snake or spider is the poison that it puts into your body when it bites or stings you. ...snake handlers who grow immune to snake venom. = poison N-MASS

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Poison (naturally secreted by certain animals), virus. 2. Malignity, maliciousness, malice, spite, spitefulness, gall, rancor, rankling, grudge, bitterness, acerbity, acrimony, malevolence, hate, ill-will, virulence.

Moby Thesaurus

abomination, acaricide, acrimony, acuteness, animality, animosity, animus, antagonism, anthelmintic, antibiotic, antiseptic, atrocity, bad, bad blood, bane, barbarity, befoulment, bitter feeling, bitterness, blight, bloodlust, brutality, bug bomb, carbamate insecticide, chemosterilant, chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide, communicability, contact poison, contagion, contagiousness, corruption, crying evil, damage, deadliness, defilement, defoliant, despoliation, destruction, destructiveness, detriment, disinfectant, eradicant, evil, extremity, ferociousness, feud, fierceness, force, fumigant, fungicide, furiousness, gall, germicide, grievance, hard feelings, harm, harshness, hate, hatred, havoc, herbicide, hostility, hurt, ill, ill blood, ill feeling, ill will, impetuosity, inclemency, infection, infectiousness, infectivity, inhumanity, injury, insect powder, insecticide, intensity, malevolence, malice, maliciousness, malignancy, malignity, mercilessness, microbicide, mindlessness, mischief, miticide, murderousness, noxiousness, organic chlorine, organic phosphate insecticide, outrage, pesticide, pitilessness, poison, poisonousness, pollution, rancor, rat poison, rigor, roach paste, roach powder, rodenticide, roughness, savagery, severity, sharpness, soreness, sourness, spite, spitefulness, spleen, stomach poison, systemic, systemic insecticide, terrorism, the worst, toxic, toxicant, toxicity, toxin, ungentleness, vandalism, vehemence, vendetta, venin, venomousness, vermicide, vexation, viciousness, violence, virulence, virulency, virus, vitriol, weed killer, woe, wrong