venom
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈvɛnəm/
rhymes: -ɛnəm
Forms: form: venoms
Etymology: From Middle English venym, from Old French venim, from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, from Early Medieval Latin venīnum, from Classical Latin venēnum (“drug; poison; a charm”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to love”). Doublet of venin and venene.
Senses: examples: text: […] There may be in the cup / A spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart, / And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge / Is not infected...
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: And from the Boughs brush off the evil dew, / And heal the harms of thwarting thunder blew, / Or what the cross dire-looking Planet smites, / Or hurtfull Worm with canker’d venom bites […]
ref: 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 54:
text: I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom.
ref: 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter XX, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:
text: The serious artist […] [is] obsessed by his material; it’s like a venom working in his blood and the art is the antidote.
ref: 1968 August, Truman Capote, interview, Mademoiselle
text: Venom evolved from saliva and it's used primarily for catching and digesting prey.
ref: 2022, Derek Muller, "How Horses Save Humans from Snake Bites", Veritasium, 00:03:20 ff.
glosses: An animal toxin intended for defensive or offensive use; a biological poison delivered by bite, sting, etc., to protect an animal or to kill its prey.
examples: text: The venom of such looks, we fairly hope, / Have lost their quality, and that this day / Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: […] as I was feasting my jaundiced eye one morning with a certain newspaper, which I was in the habit of employing as the vehicle of my venom, I was startled at discovering myself conspicuously pointed out in an angry column as a cowardly defamer […]
ref: 1790, Richard Cumberland, The Observer, volume 5, number 130, London: C. Dilly, page 48:
text: My daughter […] has no occasion to dispute the identity of your person; the venom of your present language is sufficient to remind her that she speaks with the mortal enemy of her father.
ref: 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XXXIII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
text: History is a study which has none of the venom of reality in it.
ref: 1938, Lawrence Durrell, The Black Book, New York: Open Road, published 2012, Book Three:
text: The attack was so unwarranted and delivered with such venom that his unpreparedness for it left him speechless.
ref: 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 62:
text: Some of these reviews were written in joyous zeal. Others with glee. Some in sorrow, some in anger, and a precious few with venom, of which I have a closely guarded supply.
ref: 2007, Roger Ebert, Your Movie Sucks, Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, Introduction:
glosses: Feeling or speech marked by spite or malice; vitriol.
Synonyms: sense: poison carried by an animal
word: venene
sense: poison carried by an animal
english: now usually venom of certain snakes
translation: now usually venom of certain snakes
word: venin
sense: poison carried by an animal
word: atter
sense: poison carried by an animal
word: zootoxin
Hypernyms: toxin
poison
toxicant
Derived terms: antivenom
antivenomics
antivenomous
dilute Russell's viper venom time
envenom
envenomate
envenomation
envenomization
nonvenomous
outvenom
Russell's viper venom clotting time
Russell's viper venom time
spit venom
venomic
venomics
venomization
venomless
venomlike
venomosalivary
venomosity
venomous
venomously
venomousness
venomsome