ETYM French poison, in Old French also, a potion, from Latin potio a drink, draught, potion, a poisonous draught, from potare to drink. Related to Potable, Potion.
1. Any substance that causes injury or illness or death of a living organism.
2. Anything that harms or destroys.
Or toxin; Any chemical substance that, when introduced into or applied to the body, is capable of injuring health or destroying life.
The liver removes some poisons from the blood. The majority of poisons may be divided into corrosives, such as sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids; irritants, including arsenic and copper sulfate; narcotics such as opium, and carbon monoxide; and narcotico-irritants from any substances of plant origin including carbolic acid and tobacco.
Corrosives all burn and destroy the parts of the body with which they come into contact; irritants have an irritating effect on the stomach and bowels; narcotics affect the brainstem and spinal cord, inducing a stupor; and narcotico-irritants can cause intense irritations and finally act as narcotics.
In noncorrosive poisoning every effort is made to remove the poison from the system as soon as possible—usually by gastric lavage (stomach “washout”). For some corrosive and irritant poisons there are chemical antidotes, but for recently developed poisons (for example, the herbicide paraquat) that produce proliferative changes in the system, there is no specific antidote. Drugs (legal and illegal), including nicotine and alcohol, are toxins to the human body.
In most countries the sale of poisons, as such, is carefully controlled by law and, in general, only qualified and registered pharmacists and physicians may dispense them; however, industrial and agricultural poisons are dumped into our waters and onto our lands, entering the food chain, and poisoning us and our planet. + prikaži više

ETYM Old Eng. venim, Old Fren. venim, French venin, Latin veneum. Related to Venenate.
A poison secreted by certain animals.