Noisome, a.
Etymology: [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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for noisome; he lists it under pernicious.
Where he writes about it:
Noxious (L. noceo, hurt) is a stronger word than noisome, as referring to that which is injurious or destructive. — from pernicious
Noisome now always denotes that which is extremely disagreeable or disgusting, especially to the sense of smell; as, the noisome stench proclaimed the presence of noxious gases. — from pernicious