It means to poison or excite

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Merriam-Webster OnLine   Unabridged   Learner’s Dictionary   Word Central   Encyclopædia Britannica                 Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day May 7   intoxicate   \in-TAHK-suh-kayt\   verb   Meaning 1 : poison 2 a : to excite or stupefy by alcohol or a drug especially to the point where physical and mental control is markedly diminished *b : to excite or elate to the point of enthusiasm or frenzy   Example Sentence “He encouraged them, cajoled them, tried to intoxicate them with learning....” (Luisa Yanez, The Miami Herald, July 22, 2005)            Check out Merriam-Webster's word games — Word Sudoku, Deep Sea Word Search and more.            Did you know? For those who think that alcohol and drugs qualify as poisons, the history of "intoxicate" offers some etymological evidence to bolster your argument. “Intoxicate” traces back to “toxicum,” the Latin word for “poison” — and the earliest meaning of "intoxicate" was just that: "to poison." This sense is now extremely rare, and we currently talk about such harmless things as flowers and perfume having the power to intoxicate. "Toxicum" turns up in the etymologies of a number of other English words including "toxic" ("poisonous"), "intoxicant" ("something that intoxicates") and "detoxify" ("to remove a poison from"), as well as a number of the names for various poisons themselves.   *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.   Share this Word of the Day:       Sponsored Links     Subscription: You are subscribed as: dummyposting@gmail.com •  Unsubscribe from Word of the Day •  Subscribe to Word of the Day •  View Archives of previous words   Company Info: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 Web site: Merriam-Webster.com Privacy Policy © 2010 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated                   Become a fan of Merriam-Webster on Facebook!                                  Merriam-Webster OnLine   Unabridged   Learner’s Dictionary   Word Central   Encyclopædia Britannica If you do not wish to receive further issues, please unsubscribe.