venom

Etymology

From Middle English venum, venym, etc., from Anglo-Norman venum, venim, venime, etc., from Old French venim, venin, etc., from Vulgar Latin *venīmen (“venom”), from Latin venēnum (“juice; venom”), from Proto-Italic *weneznom (“lust, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, love”); see also Sanskrit वनति (vanati, “gain, wish, lust”) and Latin Venus (“Roman goddess of love”). Doublet of venin and venene.

noun

1. An animal toxin intended for offensive use, a biological poison delivered by bite, sting, etc. to protect an animal or to kill its prey.
   The serious artist […] [is] obsessed by his material; it’s like a venom working in his blood and the art is the antidote. 1968 August, Truman Capote, interview, Mademoiselle
   Venom evolved from saliva and it's used primarily for catching and digesting prey. 2022, Derek Muller, "How Horses Save Humans from Snake Bites", Veritasium, 00:03:20 ff.
2. (figurative) Feeling or speech marked by spite or malice; vitriol.
   […] as I was feasting my jaundiced eye one morning with a certain newspaper, which I was in the habit of employing as the vehicle of my venom, I was startled at discovering myself conspicuously pointed out in an angry column as a cowardly defamer […] 1790, Richard Cumberland, The Observer, volume 5, number 130, London: C. Dilly, page 48
   History is a study which has none of the venom of reality in it. 1938, Lawrence Durrell, The Black Book, New York: Open Road, published 2012, Book Three
   The attack was so unwarranted and delivered with such venom that his unpreparedness for it left him speechless. 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 62
   Some of these reviews were written in joyous zeal. Others with glee. Some in sorrow, some in anger, and a precious few with venom, of which I have a closely guarded supply. 2007, Roger Ebert, Your Movie Sucks, Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, Introduction

verb

1. (obsolete) To infect with venom; to envenom; to poison.
   1566, Thomas Blundeville (translator and editor), The Fower Chiefyst Offices Belongyng to Horsemanshippe, London, Chapter 36, […] washe all the filth away with warme water, and annoynte the place with Hony and Fytch flower myngled together. But beware you touche none of the kirnelles with your bare finger, for feare of venoming the place, which is very apt for a Fistula to breede in.
   The Dragon is a venemous beast, and poisoneth all where he lieth; he beats the Earth bare, and venoms it, that it will bear no grass […] 1669, John Bunyan, “The Holy Citie, or, The New-Jerusalem”, in Commentary, London: Francis Smith, Chapter 21, Verse 25, pp. 229-230
   Our Fountains too a dire Infection yield, For Crowds of Vipers creep along the Field, And with polluted Gore, and baneful Steams, Taint all the Lakes, and venom all the Streams. 1717, “The Story of Ants chang’d to Men”, in William Stonestreet, transl., edited by Samuel Garth, Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. Translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 7, p. 239

adj

1. (obsolete) Poisonous, poisoned; (figuratively) pernicious.