POISON, n. poiz'n. L. pus.
1. A substance which, when taken into the stomach,mixed with the blood or applied to the skin or flesh, proves fatal or deleterious by an action not mechanical venom. The more active and virulent poisons destroy life in a short time others are slow in their operation, others produce inflammation without proving fatal. In the application of poison, much depends on the quantity.
2. Any thing infectious, malignant, or noxious to health as the poison of pestilential diseases.
3. That which taints or destroys moral purity or health as the poison of evil example the poison of sin.