destroying angel


noun
  1. any of several deadly poisonous mushrooms of the genus Amanita, having a white cap and stem, white spores, and a conspicuous volva at the base of the stem.

Origin of destroying angel

1
First recorded in 1905–10

Words Nearby destroying angel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use destroying angel in a sentence

  • Dissension, that destroying angel of great enterprises, was busy in the Christian camp.

    The History of Chivalry | G. P. R. James
  • One sprang up in the footsteps of that destroying angel, Dynamite.

    Riverby | John Burroughs
  • Upon this face thy name is inscribed in the convulsions of death, and will be registered by the destroying angel!

    Love and Intrigue | Friedrich Schiller
  • Beware of selfish purpose, revenge, hate; these are the destroying angel, sure to return to you.

    Supreme Personality | Delmer Eugene Croft
  • But now they had a part to act or they would suffer with the Egyptians when the destroying angel should pass through the land.

British Dictionary definitions for destroying angel

destroying angel

noun
  1. a white slender very poisonous basidiomycetous toadstool, Amanita virosa, having a pronounced volva, frilled, shaggy stalk, and sickly smell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012