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Poison vs Jail - What's the difference?

poison | jail |

As nouns the difference between poison and jail

is that poison is a substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism while jail is a place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.

As verbs the difference between poison and jail

is that poison is to use poison to kill or paralyse somebody while jail is to imprison.

poison

English

(wikipedia poison)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism.
    • We used a poison to kill the weeds.
  • Something that harms a person or thing.
    • Gossip is a malicious poison .
  • (informal) A drink; liquor.
    • - What's your poison ?
    - I'll have a glass of whisky.

    Synonyms

    * (substance that is harmful) atter, bane, contaminant, pollutant, toxin, venom

    Derived terms

    * poison gas * poison hemlock * poison ivy * poison oak * poison-pen letter * poison pill * poison sumac * poisoner * poisoning * poisonous * poisonwood * rat poison * what's your poison

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To use poison to kill or paralyse somebody
    • The assassin poisoned the king.
  • To pollute; to cause some part of the environment to become poisonous
    • That factory is poisoning the river.
  • To cause something to become much worse
    • Suspicion will poison their relationship.
    He poisoned the mood in the room with his non-stop criticism.
  • To cause someone to hate or to have unfair negative opinions
    • She's poisoned him against all his old friends.

    Synonyms

    * (to pollute) contaminate, pollute, taint * (to cause to become worse) corrupt, taint

    Derived terms

    * lead poisoning * poisoned chalice * radiation poisoning

    References

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    jail

    English

    Alternative forms

    * gaol

    Noun

  • A place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 1966 , title = , author= , page = 218 , edition = first , chapter = Part II, section 11 , passage = Taking a shower at the high school, Tommy (the Kitten) Cavanaugh kids Ugly Palmers. "Ugly, if you think the world is coming to an end," he says, "what are you wasting your time here at this jail for? You gonna need American history up there?" }}
  • (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.}}
  • (horse racing) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).
  • In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.

    • Usage notes

    * (prison) Like many nouns denoting places where people spend time, (term) requires no article after certain prepositions: hence , and so on. The forms (term), (term), and so on do exist, but tend to imply mere presence in the jail, rather than detention there. * Until Monopoly popularised the spelling jail' in the UK and Australia, ' gaol was the standard spelling in these countries.

    Synonyms

    * slammer

    Coordinate terms

    * (place of confinement) big house, hoosegow, prison

    Derived terms

    * jailbait * jailbird * jailbreak * jailer * jail fever * jailhouse * jail sentence

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To imprison.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}

    Synonyms

    * imprison