tobacco
UK /təˈbækəʊ/ · US /təˈbækoʊ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms tobaccos tobaccoes tobaccoing tobaccoed tabacco
- noun (uncountable) Any plant of the genus Nicotiana.
- noun (uncountable) Leaves of Nicotiana tabacum and some other species cultivated and harvested to make cigarettes, cigars, snuff, for smoking in pipes or for chewing.
- noun (countable) A variety of tobacco. “Tobaccos from the Connecticut Valley were used for wrapping cigars.”
- verb (intransitive) To indulge in tobacco; to smoke.
- verb (transitive) To treat with tobacco.
- proper noun Two rivers in Michigan, United States.
- proper noun A township in Gladwin County, Michigan, probably named after one of the rivers.
Synonyms
Etymology
Attested since 1588, borrowed from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word could be from Arabic طُبَّاق (ṭubbāq, “Dittrichia viscosa”) or from a Caribbean language such as Kari'na or Taíno or multiple of them, from a word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves" or "a pipe for smoking tobacco," such as tabago (“tube for inhaling smoke or powdered intoxicating plants”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun An American plant (Nicotiana Tabacum) of the Nightshade family, much used for smoking and chewing, and as snuff. As a medicine, it is narcotic, emetic, and cathartic. Tobacco has a strong, peculiar smell, and an acrid taste.
- noun The leaves of the plant prepared for smoking, chewing, etc., by being dried, cured, and manufactured in various ways. Tobacco box (Zoöl.), the common American skate.
Etymology [Sp. tabaco, fr. the Indian tabaco the tube or pipe in which the Indians or Caribbees smoked this plant. Some derive the word from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was said to be first found by the Spaniards; others from the island of Tobago, one of the Caribbees. But these derivations are very doubtful.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tobacco”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details