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any measure that causes air to flow in and out of a person's lungs when natural breathing is inadequate or ceases, as in respiratory paralysis, drowning, electric shock, choking, gas or smoke inhalation, or poisoning.
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; carbon monoxidecarbon monoxide,
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; food poisoningfood poisoning,
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; lead poisoninglead poisoning
or plumbism
, intoxication of the system by organic compounds containing lead. These enter the body by respiration (of dust, fumes, or sprays) or by ingestion of food or other substances that contain lead.
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; mercury poisoningmercury poisoning,
tissue damage resulting from exposure to more than trace amounts of the element mercury or its compounds. Elemental mercury (the silver liquid familiar from thermometers) is the most common occupational source.
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; poison gaspoison gas,
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; poison ivypoison ivy,
 poison oak,
and poison sumac,
woody vines and trailing or erect shrubs of the family Anacardiaceae (sumac family), native to North America.
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; snakebitesnakebite,
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; toxintoxin,
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(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

Although a true Witch is interested in healing, not in harming, witches are often erroneously associated with poison. Certainly a Witch, as local wise person, did need to be knowledgeable about poisons in order to be able to provide antidotes. In fact, the misquote, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" arose from this misconception. The original Biblical text employed the word veneficor, or "poisoner." King James's translators, deliberately or through ignorance, transcribed the word as maleficor, meaning "witch," presumably because witches were knowledgeable about antidotes to poisons. The correct translation, then, should be "Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live," which makes much more sense.

In an article in Man, Myth and Magic, Eric Maple states, "Renaissance physicians, not unnaturally, took every opportunity to cast the blame for their failures upon their unprofessional rivals, the witches; a policy for which there was ecclesiastical sanction, for the Inquisitor Bernard de Como had laid down the doctrine that all diseases beyond the curative power of medicine must be due to sorcery."

Throughout history women (and men) have resorted to poison to get rid of an unwanted spouse. Many times the poison would be obtained from a cunning man or woman, or "hedge witch." With the local wise person's knowledge of herbs, it is hardly surprising that the stigma of poisoner came to be associated with Witches.




a substance that acts on the body in such a way as to cause a marked disturbance of its normal activity—poisoning or death (seePOISONING). The classification of a given substance as a poison is arbitrary, since in many cases toxicity is determined by the circumstances or method of introduction into the body.

The effect of a poison is due to its chemical reaction with substances that are constituents of cells and tissues and that also take part in tissue metabolism, as in prussic-acid poisoning. The intensity and nature of the effect of poisons depend on the chemical structure and physicochemical properties of the poisons and on the structural and functional characteristics of the organism. This is responsible for the selective toxicity of poisons for certain species of animals or plants and for their “affinity” for certain systems or organs, for example, neurotropic poisons, which primarily affect the nervous system. Poisons are subdivided on the basis of origin into plant poisons, animal poisons, mineral poisons, and products of chemical synthesis (see; ; ; and PESTICIDES).

Poisons enter the human body mainly through the digestive and respiratory organs and are excreted by the kidneys, intestines, and lungs. Toxicology is the study of the action of poisons (seeTOXICOLOGY).



What does it mean when you dream about poison?

Poison in a dream may represent an attempt to get rid of something within oneself that is producing sickness. A violent rejection of a condition or a relationship may be causing the dreamer to suffer.



(atomic physics)
A substance which reduces the phosphorescence of a luminescent material.
A substance that exerts inhibitive effects on catalysts, even when present only in small amounts; for example, traces of sulfur or lead will poison platinum-based catalysts.
A material which reduces the emission of electrons from the surface of a cathode.
A substance that in relatively small doses has an action that either destroys life or impairs seriously the functions of organs or tissues.
A substance that absorbs neutrons without any fission resulting, and thereby lowers the reactivity of a nuclear reactor.


its horn used to test liquids for poison. [Medieval Legend: EB (1963) XXII, 702]


1. any substance that can impair function, cause structural damage, or otherwise injure the body
2. Chemistry a substance that retards a chemical reaction or destroys or inhibits the activity of a catalyst
3. Physics a substance that absorbs neutrons in a nuclear reactor and thus slows down the reaction. It may be added deliberately or formed during fission
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005