Ratsbane

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Rat poison; white arsenic. countable, uncountable

    "The Gadfly’s venom, fifty times distilled, Is mingled with the vomit of the Leech, In due proportion, and black ratsbane, which That very Rat, who, like the Pontic tyrant, Nurtures himself on poison, dare not touch;—"

  2. 2
    a white powdered poisonous trioxide of arsenic; used in manufacturing glass and as a pesticide (rat poison) and weed killer wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
arsenicarsenicarsenic trioxidearsenous anhydridearsenous oxidewhite arsenic

Example

More examples

"The Gadfly’s venom, fifty times distilled, Is mingled with the vomit of the Leech, In due proportion, and black ratsbane, which That very Rat, who, like the Pontic tyrant, Nurtures himself on poison, dare not touch;—"

Etymology

From rat's + bane. Compare henbane.

Related phrases

rat poisonwhite arsenic

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.