Etymology From Middle English venym, from Old French venim, from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, from Early Medieval Latin venīnum, from Classical Latin venēnum (“drug; poison; a charm”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to love”). Doublet of venin and venene.
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An animal toxin intended for defensive or offensive use; a biological poison delivered by bite, sting, etc., to protect an animal or to kill its prey.
[…] There may be in the cup / A spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart, / And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge / Is not infected...c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
And from the Boughs brush off the evil dew, / And heal the harms of thwarting thunder blew, / Or what the cross dire-looking Planet smites, / Or hurtfull Worm with canker’d venom bites […]1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 54:
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I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter XX, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:
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.
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Figuratively Feeling or speech marked by spite or malice; vitriol.
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope, / Have lost their quality, and that this day / Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
[…] 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:
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My daughter […] has no occasion to dispute the identity of your person; the venom of your present language is sufficient to remind her that she speaks with the mortal enemy of her father.1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XXXIII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
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:
Etymology From Middle English venym, from Old French venim, from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, from Early Medieval Latin venīnum, from Classical Latin venēnum (“drug; poison; a charm”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to love”). Doublet of venin and venene.
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.
Let’s leave the hermit pity with our mothers, / And when we have our armours buckled on, / The venom’d vengeance ride upon our swords, / Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
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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:
Etymology From Middle English venym, from Old French venim, from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, from Early Medieval Latin venīnum, from Classical Latin venēnum (“drug; poison; a charm”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to love”). Doublet of venin and venene.
Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud? / Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows’ nests? / Or toads infect fair founts with venom mud?1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
[…] it is stopp’d with other flattering sounds, / As praises, of whose taste the wise are fond, / Lascivious metres, to whose venom sound / The open ear of youth doth always listen;1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene 1]: