▪ I. intoxicate, ppl. a. (n.)
(ɪnˈtɒksɪkət)
Also 5 en-.
[ad. med.L. intoxicāt-us, pa. pple. of intoxicāre: see next. In later use treated as shortened form of intoxicated.]
† 1. a. Impregnated, steeped in, or smeared with poison; rendered poisonous: empoisoned. Obs.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxiv. (MS. Bodl. 230) lf. 119/2 An arwe The hede of wiche w{supt} venym was enoint Intoxycat at the square poynt. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. clxv. 160 He toke a pocion of a physycion..whiche was intoxicat, by meane of which venemous pocion, he dyed shortlye after. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. xi. 34 To sla with dart Intoxicat. 1632 I. L. Womens Rights 350 To drinke vp the said drinke so intoxicate. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. Ep. A iv, Simple ones..doe sucke from the intoxicate dugs of Conformity, the foster-milke which makes them grow in Error. |
† b. Poisoned; killed by poison. Obs.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. iii. ix. in Ashm. (1652) 141 But no man shall be by hyt intoxycate, After the tyme yt ys into Medycyne Elevate. 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. xi. xxii, The fayre Esperie..was by a venemous serpente pricked on the foot. She was entoxicat and enpoysoned in suche wyse that she felle doun deed. 1555 Eden Decades 325 In such sorte qualyfyinge the maliciousnesse therof [poison], that none shall therby bee intoxicate. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 198 It is also good against those that are intoxicate with poison. |
† c. Of a disease, etc.: Caused by poison. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 204 The bloud being dryed and decocted with marrow, is good against all intoxicate passions. |
2. Inebriated: = intoxicated 2.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 188 In that blynde denne of your intoxicate braynes. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 185 His head was intoxicate with the strong sauor of the incense,..and so being beside himself, wist not what he did. 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists 39 Drunk and intoxicate with the Whores cuppe. 1845 Hirst Com. Mammoth, etc. 164 Like one intoxicate with scents. |
3. fig. = intoxicated 3.
| c 1500 Mersar Perrell in Paramours, With tressone so intoxicait Are mennis mowthis at all ouris. 1531 Frith Judgm. Tracy (1829) 247 Their mind is so intoxicate, that there is nothing but they will note it with a black coal. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 328 Deep versed in books and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys, And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude xiii. 29 The mind intoxicate With present objects. 1879 J. Todhunter Alcestis 22 Such sun and air make me intoxicate With a strange passion. |
B. n. One who is intoxicated or inebriated.
| 1760 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) II. 33 The fair intoxicate turned round and cried, ‘I am laughed at!—Who is it?’ |
▪ II. intoxicate, v.
(ɪnˈtɒksɪkeɪt)
[f. ppl. stem of med.L. intoxicāre, f. in- (in-2) + toxicāre to smear with poison, f. toxicum = Gr. τοξικόν poison.]
† 1. trans. To poison. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 592/2, I intoxycat, I poyson with venyme. 1537 Latimer Serm. bef. Convoc. 9 June an. 1536 A v b, Meate I say, and not poyson. This dothe intoxicate and slee the eater, that fedeth and nourysheth him. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. iii. (1886) 34 He [the devil] supplieth their wants of powders and roots to intoxicate withall. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. vi. 206 If one be intoxicated with a poisonous Animal. |
2. To stupefy, render unconscious or delirious, to madden or deprive of the ordinary use of the senses or reason, with a drug or alcoholic liquor; to inebriate, make drunk.
| 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 97 It..goeth downe very pleasantly, intoxicating weake braines. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 830 They intoxicate the fish with a strong sented wood called Ayaw, whereby they easily take them on the top of the water. 1635 Swan Spec. M. vi. §2 (1643) 215 It filleth and intoxicateth the brain, as wine doth. 1693 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 90, 2 or 3 men..forced a potion down his mouth, which intoxicated him. 1775 Boswell Let. 12 Aug., I run wild but did not get drunk. I was however intoxicated and very ill next day. a 1803 Sir Hugh le Blond viii, in Child Ballads iii. lix B. (1885) 47/1 He intoxicate the leper-man, With liquors very sweet. 1894 A. Robertson Nuggets, etc. 87 His mind and tongue were sober, but his legs were intoxicated. |
b. absol. To cause or produce intoxication.
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 277 They put Lime to it to make it intoxicate. 1746 Berkeley 2nd Let. Tar-water §9 Cordials, which heat and intoxicate. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 414 When new it is flatulent, debilitating, and purgative, and intoxicates sooner than old wine. |
3. fig. † a. To ‘poison’; to corrupt morally or spiritually. Obs.
| a 1529 Skelton Col. Clout 704 Suche maner of sysmatykes And halfe heretykes..That wolde intoxicate,..That wolde contaminate..The Church's hygh estates. 1680 Bunyan Mr. Badman Wks. 1767 I. 738 They are intoxicated with the deadly poison of sin. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 421 The woe falls on all, who in any way intoxicate others with flattering words or feigned affection, mixing poison under things pleasant, to bring them to shame. |
b. To stupefy or excite as with a drug or alcoholic liquor; to render unsteady or delirious in mind or feelings; to excite or exhilarate beyond self-control.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. 663 With grace of Princes, with their pomp, and State, Ambitious Spirits he doth intoxicate. 1640–4 Chas. I in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 732 So new a Power will undoubtedly intoxicate Persons who were not born to it. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 241 Authority intoxicates..The Fumes of it invade the Brain, And make Men giddy, proud, and vain. a 1716 South (J. s.v. Stupify), The fumes of his passion do as really intoxicate his discerning faculty, as the fumes of drink discompose and stupify the brain. 1718 Freethinker No. 87 ¶10 It too often happens, that a Man..is..intoxicated with Pride and Self-Conceit. 1863 Mrs. Oliphant Salem Ch. vi. 100 Those smiles..which intoxicated for the moment every man on whom they fell. |
Hence inˈtoxicating vbl. n.
| 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 138 Imployed chiefly for intoxicating of Birds and Fish. |