poison pills

Noun

poison pill (plural poison pills)

1. Any strategy designed to produce negative results for an entity carrying out a takeover.
   • The study also concludes that there is no indication that poison pills reduce the chance that a company will become a takeover target. In contrast, if investors viewed the introduction of the poison pill as deterring potential takeover attempts, the effect on shareholder returns would be negative.2003, Donald DePamphilis, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 151

   Synonyms:

   shareholder rights plan

2. A provision in a bill that leads to potential supporters opposing it instead.
   • They want to load the bills up with poison pills, measures the Republicans are inserting in the legislation to make sure I will veto it, so they can pretend it's not just the poison pill I'm against but the bill itself.1996, William J. Clinton, “Remarks on the Legislative Agenda and an Exchange With Reporters”, in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, volume 1, page 706
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poison, pill.