tobacco
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Attested since 1588, a loan from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word is either from Arabic طباق (ṭabāq, ṭubāq, “a type of medicinal herb”) or from a Taino word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves"[1] or "a pipe for smoking tobacco".[2] The term is thus either an Old World term (of Arabic origin) applied to a New World plant, or a New World word.[3]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
tobacco (countable and uncountable, plural tobaccos)
- (uncountable) Any plant of the genus Nicotiana.
- (uncountable) Leaves of Nicotiana tabacum and some other species cultivated and harvested to make cigarettes, cigars, snuff, for smoking in pipes or for chewing.
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2013 September 7, “Unlucky strike”, The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:
- Tobacco-settlement bonds are a tribute both to the inventiveness of bankers and the childlike impatience of politicians.
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- (countable) A variety of tobacco.
- Tobaccos from the Connecticut Valley were used for wrapping cigars.
Translations[edit]
any plant of the genus Nicotiana
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leaves of certain varieties of tobacco plant
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Las Casas, 1552 (supports the gloss "roll of tobacco leaves")
- ^ Oviedo, 1535 (supports the gloss "pipe for smoking")
- ^ “tobacco” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
