Webster's 1828 Dictionary
MEPHITIC
a.[L. mephitis, an ill smell. ] Offensive to the smell; foul; poisonous; noxious; pestilential; destructive to life. Mephitic acid is carbonic acid.
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
MEPHITIC; MEPHITICAL
Me *phit "ic, Me *phit "ic *al, a. Etym: [L. mephiticus, fr. mephitis mephitis: cf. F. méphitique.]
1. Tending to destroy life; poisonous; noxious; as, mephitic exhalations; mephitic regions.
2. Offensive to the smell; as, mephitic odors. Mephitic air (Chem. ), carbon dioxide; -- so called because of its deadly suffocating power. See Carbonic acid, under Carbonic.
New American Oxford Dictionary
mephitic
me phit ic |məˈfitik məˈfɪdɪk | ▶adjective (esp. of a gas or vapor ) foul-smelling; noxious. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from late Latin mephiticus, from mephitis ‘noxious exhalation. ’
Oxford Dictionary
mephitic
mephitic |mɪˈfɪtɪk | ▶adjective literary (especially of a gas or vapour ) foul-smelling; noxious. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from late Latin mephiticus, from mephitis ‘noxious exhalation ’.
American Oxford Thesaurus
mephitic
mephitic adjective literary See malodorous.
Oxford Thesaurus
mephitic
mephitic adjective literary the mephitic, sulphurous stench of the crater. See smelly.
The Wordsmith Dictionary