Meaning of poison In English

• 0 a substance that can make people or animals ill or kill them if they eat or drink it:

  • The pest control officer put bowls of rat poison in the attic.

  • Her drink had been laced with a deadly poison.

• 1 to kill a person or animal or to make them very ill by giving them poison:

  • Four members of the family had been poisoned, but not fatally.

  • He said that someone had poisoned his coffee.

  • The chemical leak had poisoned the water supply.

• 2 to spoil a friendship or another situation, by making it very unpleasant:

  • The long dispute has poisoned relations between the two countries.

• 3 a substance that causes illness or death if swallowed, absorbed, or breathed into the body:

  • [ U ] poison gas

  • [ C ] Some cleaning products are poisons.

  • [ U ] He sprayed the weeds with poison.

• 4 to cause serious harm to something:

  • Jealousy poisoned our relationship.

  • I don’t see why you think TV poisons people’s minds (= influences them in a bad way).

• 5 to cause a person or animal to take in poison, or to add poison to food or a liquid:

  • He thinks someone is trying to poison him.

  • Her tea was poisoned.