name one's poison

verb

To indicate what type of alcoholic beverage one wishes to be served.

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Meanings

verbname one's poison (third-person singular simple present names one's poison, present participle naming one's poison, simple past and past participle named one's poison)

present singular third person names one's poison · participle present naming one's poison · participle past named one's poison · past named one's poison

  1. idiomaticTo indicate what type of alcoholic beverage one wishes to be served.

Origin

From the US prohibition era, when the government required that the base ingredients for many products have poisons added to them to make it harder for them to be distilled into alcohol. As a result, much of the prohibition alcohol was actually poison when not distilled completely or properly.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

name one's poison. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/name%20one's%20poison

MLA

“name one's poison.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/name%20one's%20poison. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “name one's poison,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/name%20one's%20poison.

Source: name one's poison on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.