intoxication

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin intoxicātiō (“the action of poisoning; poison”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded from the 14th century in British and continental sources, also in figurative use.^[2] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle stem of intoxicō (“to poison”) and the suffix -iō.^[2][3] The verb is made of in- (“in”) and Late Latin toxicō (“to smear with poison”),^[6][3] from Latin toxicum (“poison”),^[6][7] from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón, “arrow poison”),^[7] the neuter of an adjective meaning "of arrows or archery".^[3] The Shorter Oxford allows a French source as well,^[8] and the OED compares Middle French intoxication (“poison”), recorded in 1408.^[2] It is the noun of intoxicate, and the Latin noun is ultimately from the same source as toxic.^[2][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of giving poison to someone, or the state it causes: about 1450, in Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte, a poem perhaps composed about 1408.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1400, as poisoning, administration of poison.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the verb intoxicate, which also moved from "poison" to "make drunk".^[2][3] The literal sense "poisoning" was in general use until the late 17th century.^[2] By 1513 the word could also mean moral or spiritual corruption, a sense used until 1728.^[2] The sense "drunkenness" is recorded from 1624, in a sermon by Thomas Adams;^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave both "the act of making drunk" and "the state of being drunk".^[10] The figurative sense of exhilaration or being carried away by feeling appears in 1712, in Addison's Spectator.^[2] Poisoning came back as a medical term in the 19th century, for the condition caused by a toxic substance (1842);^[2] the Shorter Oxford notes that the old sense survives only in medicine.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – the action of poisoning, or the state of being poisoned (obsolete by 1688).^[2]
• before 1513 – figurative, moral or spiritual corruption (obsolete by 1728).^[2]
• 1624 – drunkenness, loss of control through drink or drugs.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1640s.^[3]
• 1674 – the quality of being intoxicating (rare, obsolete).^[2]
• 1712 – great excitement or elation.^[2]
• 1842 – in medicine, the condition caused by a toxic substance.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being drunk or under the influence of a drug; inebriation: He was arrested for intoxication at the wheel.^[11][5][2]
2. A strong excitement or elation that carries one away: the intoxication of their first victory.^[11][5][2]
3. (medicine) poisoning, or the abnormal state caused by a toxin, drug or other chemical: lead intoxication.^[5][2][11]
4. The act of intoxicating.^[11][5]

Word family

• autointoxication

Related words

• intoxicate
• intoxicant
• toxic
• toxin

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins