poison the well (English, verb)
expansion: poison the well (third-person singular simple present poisons the well, present participle poisoning the well, simple past and past participle poisoned the well)
Senses:
glosses: To preemptively raise ad hominem arguments in order to discredit someone.
tags: intransitive
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poison, the, well.
Forms:
form: poisons the well
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: poisoning the well
tags: participle
present
form: poisoned the well
tags: participle
past
form: poisoned the well
tags: past