Monday, February 23, 2009

nocuous

nocuous \NOK-yoo-uhs\, adjective:

very hurtful; noxious

The most important conclusions are that the bile of nocuous or venomous serpents is the most powerful antidote to venom.
-- Nature, May-October 1898
"Let us take for example a nocuous stimulus, such as a strong electric current or wounding or cauterization of the skin."
-- Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Conditioned Reflexes

by 1627 from Latin nocuus "hurtful," from root of nocere "to injure, harm," from causative form of Proto Indo-European *nek- "death."

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