Poison vs. Toxin
Poisonnoun
A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism.
‘We used a poison to kill the weeds.’;
Toxinnoun
A toxic or poisonous substance produced by the biological processes of biological organisms.
Poisonnoun
Something that harms a person or thing.
‘Gossip is a malicious poison.’;
Toxinnoun
A poisonous product formed by an organism, such as a pathogenic bacterium, a plant or an animal, usually having a high molecular weight, often a protein or a polysaccharide, but occasionally a low-molecular weight agent such as tetrodotoxin.
Poisonnoun
(informal) A drink; liquor.
‘— What's your poison?’; ‘— I'll have a glass of whisky.’;
Toxinnoun
a poisonous substance produced during the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms and some higher plant and animal species
Poisonverb
(transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse somebody
‘The assassin poisoned the king.’;
Toxinnoun
a poison of plant or animal origin, especially one produced by or derived from microorganisms and acting as an antigen in the body.
Poisonverb
(transitive) To pollute; to cause some part of the environment to become poisonous
‘That factory is poisoning the river.’;
Toxin
A toxin is a harmful substance produced within living cells or organisms; synthetic toxicants created by artificial processes are thus excluded. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived from the word toxic.Toxins can be small molecules, peptides, or proteins that are capable of causing disease on contact with or absorption by body tissues interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes or cellular receptors.
Poisonverb
(transitive) To cause something to become much worse
‘Suspicion will poison their relationship.’; ‘He poisoned the mood in the room with his non-stop criticism.’;
Poisonverb
(transitive) To cause someone to hate or to have unfair negative opinions
‘She's poisoned him against all his old friends.’;
Poisonnoun
Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.
Poisonnoun
That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.
Poisonverb
To put poison upon or into; to infect with poison; as, to poison an arrow; to poison food or drink.
Poisonverb
To injure or kill by poison; to administer poison to.
‘If you poison us, do we not die ?’;
Poisonverb
To taint; to corrupt; to vitiate; as, vice poisons happiness; slander poisoned his mind.
‘Whispering tongues can poison truth.’;
Poisonverb
To act as, or convey, a poison.
‘Tooth that poisons if it bite.’;
Poisonnoun
any substance that causes injury or illness or death of a living organism
Poisonnoun
anything that harms or destroys;
‘the poison of fascism’;
Poisonverb
spoil as if by poison;
‘poison someone's mind’; ‘poison the atmosphere in the office’;
Poisonverb
kill by its poison;
‘This mushrooms can kill’;
Poisonverb
kill with poison;
‘She poisoned her husband’;
Poisonverb
add poison to;
‘Her husband poisoned her drink in order to kill her’;
Poisonverb
administer poison to;
‘She poisoned her husband but he did not die’;
Poison
In biology, poisons are substances that can cause death, injury or harm to organs, tissues, cells, and DNA usually by chemical reactions or other activity on the molecular scales, when an organism is exposed to a sufficient quantity.In a metaphorical broader use of term it may refer to any thing deemed harmful. The fields of medicine (particularly veterinary) and zoology often distinguish a poison from a toxin, and from a venom.
