Definition of "ratsbane" [rats•bane]

• Rat poison, especially arsenic trioxide. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Early in June Judith, walking in the wood, brought home the splendid red wood lily, and a cluster too of "ratsbane," with its flowers like a little crown of white wax."
• "We spend some time with "The Shakespeare Insult Kit," which offers choice adjectives and nouns from the Bard's work that one can configure in any number of combinations, such as "thou dankish, fat-kidneyed moldwarp" or "thou mammering, onion-eyed ratsbane.""
• "I had as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth as offer to stop it with security."