Noi"some (?), a. [For noysome,
fr. noy for annoy. See Annoy.]
1. Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous;
unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome
effluvia. "Noisome pestilence." Ps. xci. 3.
2. Offensive to the smell or other senses;
disgusting; fetid. "Foul breath is noisome."
Shak.
-- Noi"some*ly, adv. --
Noi"some*ness, n.
Syn. -- Noxious; unwholesome; insalubrious; mischievous;
destructive. -- Noisome, Noxious. These words have to
a great extent been interchanged; but there is a tendency to make a
distinction between them, applying noxious to things that
inflict evil directly; as, a noxious plant, noxious
practices, etc., and noisome to things that operate with a
remoter influence; as, noisome vapors, a noisome
pestilence, etc. Noisome has the additional sense of
disqusting. A garden may be free from noxious weeds or
animals; but, if recently covered with manure, it may be filled with
a noisome smell.
