Meanings
- uncountableA poison or potion that changes the body but not the mind.
And the riven Tree in the West withered; and the broken Car was changed by the Circean poison of the golden plumes into a two-natured monster, half-bird, half-beast — a mockery of the holy Griffin.
1926, Essays in memory of Barrett Wendell, page 77 - uncountableAnything magically (and fatally) captivating, such as a potion or applause.
"Is not this herd," he continues, "worse than Circean poison?"
1878, John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, page 2422 more examples
O foulest Circean draught, thou poison of Popular Applause! madness is in thee, and death; thy end is Bedlam and the Grave.
1834, Thomas Carlyle, "The Death of Edward Irving," essay from Fraser's Magazine 61 (1834)http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carlyle/irving.htmlSo soon the worm that dies not is also upon him—in its fang Circean poison to make the victim one with his plague...
1908, John Ruskin, St. Mark's Rest: The History of Venice Written for the Help of the Few ..., page 236
Origin
After the Greek mythological figure of Circe, who (in the Odyssey) tempted men to excess before turning them into pigs.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Circean poison. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Circean%20poison
“Circean poison.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Circean%20poison. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Circean poison,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Circean%20poison.
Source: Circean poison on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.