poison-pen letter | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Amissivewhich ismalicious,insulting, and/ordefamatorytoward a person, organization, orpoint of view, especially one which isunsigned.1915December 18, “Poison Pen Writer Released on Bail”, inNew York Times, retrieved 25 Aug. 2010, page 7:Miss Theresa Samuels . . . is accused by the Post Office authorities of sending scurrilous letters to young women whose engagements to marry had been publicly announced. . . . Those who received thepoison pen letterswere not willing to court the notoriety that would follow the prosecution of the case.2001August 1, Nigel Bunyan, “Twelve-year reign of poison pen villager”, intelegraph.co.uk, retrieved 25 Aug. 2010:A retired academic was the author of apoison-pen lettercampaign that brought 12 years of fear to a North Yorkshire village, a court was told yesterday. Dr James Forster . . . was alleged to have branded one villager a prostitute and sent the 13-year-old daughter of the parish clerk a copy of a pornographic magazine.

Examples:

EN: I received a poison-pen letter.
ES: He recibido una carta anónima, infame.
EN: - I got another poison-pen letter. - Again?
ES: - He recibido otra carta-envenenada. - ¿De nuevo?
EN: She's probably writing a poison-pen letter.
ES: Parece que esté escribiendo una carta de amor.

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