Rate this phrase:5.0 / 1 vote

poison the well

To discredit something or someone usually by presenting negative or irrelevant information; to cast aspersions

Etymology:

  • The phrase traces back to the practice of well poisoning, an ancient wartime action in which fresh water sources -accessible to an invading army - were rendered unusable upon tainting them with some kind of toxin or impurity, thereby stifling an impending attack.
70 Views
“

The electors widely admitted that the senator would most likely poison the well of his opponents to preserve his seat.

Collection   Edit    

Submitted by JokerGem on February 21, 2023

Translation

Find a translation for the poison the well phrase in other languages:

zatruć studnię

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to poison the well

well done my boyvery welltaste of one's own poisonwell donepoison tree bears poison fruitto a fare-thee-wellpoisonvery wellmight as wellone may as well hang for a sheep as a l…one man's meat is another man's poisonpoison penpoison-pen letteroh well

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this poison the well phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poison the well definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "poison the well." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/poison-the-well_63308>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    Where the _________ have you been?
    A devil
    B angel
    C baggins
    D beast

    Browse Phrases.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ