mephitis
Americannoun
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(in nontechnical use) a noxious or pestilential exhalation from the earth, as poison gas.
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any noisome or poisonous stench.
Etymology
Origin of mephitis
1700–10; < Latin mephītis, mefītis; compare Oscan Mefit ( eí ) the goddess of such exhalations
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mephitis mephitis estor Merriam Striped Skunk D. Watson advises me that striped skunks are fairly common around the entrance to the Park, along the foot of the Mesa, and along the Mancos River.
From Project Gutenberg
Azote is one of the most abundant elements; combined with caloric it forms azotic gas, or mephitis, which composes nearly two thirds of the atmosphere.
From Project Gutenberg
Instantly a cone of black mephitis shot forth, a loathsome, bituminous stream of putrefaction that reeked of the grave and the cesspool, of the utmost reaches of decay before the dust accepts the disintegrated atoms.
From Project Gutenberg
The odor of corruption, the saeva mephitis, has by this time exhaled.
From Project Gutenberg
Come along with me, and get the mephitis blown out of you.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
