poison

«poison» in Mova's school dictionary: A substance that can make you very ill or kill you if you… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (poison — uncountable; poisons — kinds); verb (poison, poisons, poisoned, poisoning)

meaning for a pupil

1) A substance that can make you very ill or kill you if you swallow, breathe in or touch it. tree →

2) Verb: to harm or kill someone with poison, or to put poison in something. tree →

3) Something that spoils or harms: «Gossip is poison to a friendship». tree →

sense in the lessons

In safety lessons: many household things are poisons — bleach, cleaning sprays, medicines, weed killer, some plants and berries, button batteries; keep them in their containers, locked away from small children; warning symbols mark them. If someone swallows poison, tell an adult at once and call the poison help line or emergency number; don't make them sick. In science and nature: some animals use venom, some plants and mushrooms are poisonous. In stories: the poisoned apple in Snow White. Phrases: rat poison, food poisoning, poison ivy, poison control, poisonous.

examples

• Bleach is a poison if you drink it. tree →
• Keep poisons locked away from little children. tree →
• Some berries are poison — don't eat them. tree →
• The witch poisoned the apple. tree →
• Food poisoning comes from bad or undercooked food. tree →
• Poison ivy gives you an itchy rash. tree →
• Call the poison help line if someone swallows medicine by mistake. tree →
• The skull and crossbones symbol means poison. tree →
• "We'll poison her--poison her!" shrieked the witches. tree →

note

Mostly uncountable: «some poison». Adjective: poisonous. Animals that bite or sting to inject poison are «venomous» (snakes, spiders); things that poison you when eaten or touched are «poisonous» (berries, some frogs). Never taste or sniff an unknown liquid.

In the corpora

• Pufferfish swallow water fast to blow up into a prickly ball, and many also have strong poison.
• Slug pellets can poison hedgehogs that eat poisoned slugs, and hedgehogs are getting rarer in Britain.
• Venom is a poison that an animal pushes into another animal with fangs, a sting or a spine, like a tiny syringe.
• Many poisonous animals do not make their poison themselves: they get it from what they eat.
• Some animals escape not with spikes or poison but with a trick, like a magician who makes you look the wrong way.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «poison» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.