I.a noxious, pestilential exhalation from the ground, mephitis.
II. Personified: Mĕphītis (Mĕfi-tis ), is, f., a goddess who averts pestilential exhalations, Tac. H. 3, 34; Plin. 2, 93, 95, § 208; Inscr. Orell. 1795; cf. Serv. Verg. A. 7, 84: “lucus Mephitis,” Varr. L. L. 5, 7, § 49 Müll.: aedes, Paul. ex Fest. 351, 3.