nicotine

/ˈnɪkətin/

/ˈnɪkətin/

Nicotine is a drug that's present in tobacco. People who are addicted to cigarettes are really hooked on nicotine.

Nicotine is most commonly known for occurring in tobacco, and therefore in cigarettes. In small amounts, nicotine is a stimulant, although in larger quantities it's considered a poison and is even used in many insecticides. The earliest French root of the word was nicotiane, which comes from the Modern Latin botanical term for the tobacco plant, Nicotiana, named for Jean Nicot, the French ambassador who first brought tobacco from Brazil to France in 1561.

Definitions of nicotine

1. noun

   an alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco; used in medicine and as an insecticide
   type of:

   pressor, vasoconstrictive, vasoconstrictor

   any agent that causes a narrowing of an opening of a blood vessel: cold or stress or nicotine or epinephrine or norepinephrine or angiotensin or vasopressin or certain drugs; maintains or increases blood pressure

   alkaloid

   natural bases containing nitrogen found in plants

   phytotoxin, plant toxin

   any substance produced by plants that is similar in its properties to extracellular bacterial toxin