Venomous

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Venomous \Ven"om*ous\, a. [OE. venemous, venimous, F. venimeux,
     L. venenosus, fr. venenum poison. See {Venom}, and cf.
     {Venenose}.]
     1. Full of venom; noxious to animal life; poisonous; as, the
        bite of a serpent may be venomous.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Zool.) Having a poison gland or glands for the secretion
        of venom, as certain serpents and insects.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Noxious; mischievous; malignant; spiteful; as, a venomous
        progeny; a venomous writer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Venomous snake} (Zool.), any serpent which has poison glands
        and fangs, whether dangerous to man or not. These serpents
        constitute two tribes, the viperine serpents, or
        Solenoglypha, and the cobralike serpents, or
        Proteroglypha. The former have perforated, erectile fangs
        situated in the front part of the upper jaw, and are
        without ordinary teeth behind the fangs; the latter have
        permanently erect and grooved fangs, with ordinary
        maxillary teeth behind them.
        [1913 Webster] -- {Ven"om*ous*ly}, adv. --
        {Ven"om*ous*ness}, n.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  venomous
       adj 1: extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom; "venomous
              snakes"; "a virulent insect bite" [syn: {deadly}, {virulent}]
       2: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing
          otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments";
          "her acrid remarks make her many enemies"; "bitter words";
          "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes about political
          assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics"; "a
          sulfurous denunciation" [syn: {acerb}, {acerbic}, {acid},
          {acrid}, {bitter}, {blistering}, {caustic}, {sulfurous}, {sulphurous},
           {virulent}, {vitriolic}]
       3: marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful; "a malevolent
          lie"; "poisonous hate...in his eyes"- Ernest Hemingway;
          "venomous criticism"; "vicious gossip" [syn: {poisonous},
          {vicious}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  108 Moby Thesaurus words for "venomous":
     acerbic, acrid, acute, antagonistic, antipathetic, baleful,
     baneful, belligerent, bitter, catching, caustic, clashing,
     colliding, communicable, conflicting, contagious, corroding,
     corrosive, corrupting, corruptive, counterproductive, cutting,
     damaging, dangerous, deadly, deleterious, despiteful, destructive,
     detrimental, disadvantageous, disserviceable, distressing, drastic,
     embittered, envenomed, excessive, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme,
     fierce, full of hate, furious, great, harmful, hateful, hostile,
     hurtful, immoderate, infectious, infective, injurious, intemperate,
     intense, keen, lethal, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious,
     malign, malignant, mean, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic,
     mischievous, noisome, noxious, ominous, outrageous, pernicious,
     pestiferous, pestilential, piercing, poison, poisonous,
     prejudicial, quarrelsome, rancorous, repugnant, rigorous, rough,
     savage, scatheful, set against, severe, sharp, sore, spiteful,
     splenetic, splitting, tough, toxic, toxicant, toxiferous,
     unconscionable, vehement, venenate, veneniferous, venenous,
     vicious, violent, viperish, viperlike, viperous, virulent,
     vitriolic