Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A basic nitrogenous organic compound produced by bacterial putrefaction of protein.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A generic name of alkaloid bodies formed from animal or vegetable tissues during putrefaction, and the similar bodies produced by pathogenic bacteria. Some of them are poisonous.
Wiktionary
- n. chemistry Any of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria.
- n. dated food poisoning
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Physiol. Chem.) One of a class of animal bases or alkaloids formed in the putrefaction of various kinds of albuminous matter, and closely related to the vegetable alkaloids; a cadaveric poison. The ptomaines, as a class, have their origin in dead matter, by which they are to be distinguished from the
leucomaines .
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various amines (such as putrescine or cadaverine) formed by the action of putrefactive bacteria
- n. a term for food poisoning that is no longer in scientific use; food poisoning was once thought to be caused by ingesting ptomaines
Etymologies
- From French ptomaïne, from French ptomaina, from Ancient Greek πτῶμα (ptōma, "corpse"). (Wiktionary)
- Italian ptomaina, from Greek ptōma, corpse, from piptein, ptō-, to fall; see pet- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Food poisoning -- commonly called ptomaine poisoning -- and the effects ascribed to "salts of tin" result from improper handling and improper preparation of the product before packing, or from allowing the product to stand in the tin after it has been opened.”
“Oh, yes, it was a full man's job, and I dosed and doctored, and pulled teeth, and dragged my patients through mild little things like ptomaine poisoning.”
“To-morrow, or some other day, a ptomaine bug, or some other of a thousand bugs, might jump out upon him and drag him down.”
“Feb 18th, 2010 at 12: 49 pm deanlo: lefties are immune to ptomaine. everyone knows that”
“Will Mamacita meet her maker at the hands of ptomaine poisoning?”
“Sailors on the American destroyer that took them onboard served an evening meal of bread and meat that made the passengers violently sick with ptomaine poisoning.”
“Throughout the book, Jig continues to struggle with the events of GOBLIN WAR and the pressures of his new ptomaine.”
“Mess around and give everybody ptomaine poisoning.”
“Imagine a chef preparing a dish which gives all his guests ptomaine poisoning and than saying, "I meant to do that!”
“In 1934, a much celebrated pointer named Schoolfield died suddenly (possibly of ptomaine poisoning) just before the contest opened.”
F&S Report: The National Championship for Field Trialing Bird Dogs
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ptomaine’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with ...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 79 more...
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Words with unusual spellings or pronu...
Herein are listed words with oddball spellings and words whose pronunciation does not reflect the spelling.
eleemosynary, Wednesday, colonel, posslq, zaqqum, qwerty, cinquefoil, qibla(h), minuscule, Cholmondeley, polyphloisboian, ptisan and 67 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Tuesday words
just the next words that come along
nasality, transignification, lapsarian, disciple, slanguage, atwitter, avast, ahoy, asleep, awake, hymnody, glissade and 573 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 1984 more...
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Portnoy's Complaint
Words gathered while reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth.
bonditt, goy, kishkas, goyische, shkotzim, if-onlying, pishachs, schvartze, milchiks, flaishedigeh, galvanic, chazerai and 123 more...
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implify's Words
gaia, eviscerate, lament, ephemeral, urbane, blight, variant, schadenfreude, hubbub, iteration, feign, hobgoblin and 243 more...
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Speaking in Tongues - an REM list
Words heard in various REM songs that I enjoy and that I think are indicative of the band. Not too literally, of course.
pilgrimage, pageant, suspicion, penitence, gentlemen, chronic, stigma, deadlier, transit, fortunate, momentum, misconstrued and 162 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3248 more...
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Dracula
Words from Dracula
caleche, patronymic, saturnine, portmanteau, cudgelling, mattock, embrasure, faugh, disgorged, brool, scuppers, spume and 21 more...
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Silent P
ptarmigan, pneumonia, psylla, psychic, pfeffernuss, pfennig, pterodactyl, psalm, pseudonym, ptolemaic, psyche, pfui teufel and 26 more...
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Keepers
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ptomaine.
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