(1.) Hebrews hemah, "heat," the poison of certain venomous reptiles (Deuteronomy 32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Psalm 58:4), causing inflammation.

(2.) Hebrews rosh, "a head," a poisonous plant (Deuteronomy 29:18), growing luxuriantly (Hosea 10:4), of a bitter taste (Psalm 69:21; Lamentations 3:5), and coupled with wormwood; probably the poppy. This word is rendered "gall", q.v., (Deuteronomy 29:18; 32:33; Psalm 69:21; Jeremiah 8:14, etc.), "hemlock" (Hosea 10:4; Amos 6:12), and "poison" (Job 20:16), "the poison of asps," showing that the rosh was not exclusively a vegetable poison.

(3.) In Romans 3:13 (Comp. Job 20:16; Psalm 140:3), James 3:8, as the rendering of the Greek ios.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.

2. (n.) That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.

3. (n.) To put poison upon or into; to infect with poison; as, to poison an arrow; to poison food or drink.

4. (n.) To injure or kill by poison; to administer poison to.

5. (n.) To taint; to corrupt; to vitiate; as, vice poisons happiness; slander poisoned his mind.

6. (v. i.) To act as, or convey, a poison.