tobacco

/təˈbækoʊ/

/təˈbækəʊ/

Other forms: tobaccos; tobaccoes

Tobacco refers to the leaves of the tobacco plant that have been dried and processed for people to roll up and smoke. Tobacco is the main ingredient in cigarettes, and of course, chewing tobacco.

Tobacco was used for fun in the Americas way before the Europeans came, but it was cultivated in France in the 1500s, and is still going strong. The word tobacco probably came from the Caribbean. The name Tobacco Road is from a novel by Erskine Caldwell, but is used to describe a section of North Carolina that produced a lot of tobacco. Tobacco is mainly used in cigarettes, which are really bad for your health.

Definitions of tobacco

1. noun

   aromatic annual or perennial herbs and shrubs
   synonyms: tobacco plant

   types:

   Jasmine tobacco, Nicotiana alata, flowering tobacco

   South American ornamental perennial having nocturnally fragrant greenish-white flowers

   Nicotiana tabacum, common tobacco

   tall erect South American herb with large ovate leaves and terminal clusters of tubular white or pink flowers; cultivated for its leaves

   Indian tobacco, Nicotiana rustica, wild tobacco

   tobacco plant of South America and Mexico

   Nicotiana glauca, mustard tree, tree tobacco

   evergreen South American shrub naturalized in United States; occasionally responsible for poisoning livestock

   type of:

   herb, herbaceous plant

   a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests
2. noun

   leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion
   synonyms: baccy

   types:

   filler

   the tobacco used to form the core of a cigar

   roll of tobacco, smoke

   tobacco leaves that have been made into a cylinder

   smoking mixture

   a blend of tobaccos to be smoked in a pipe

   snuff

   finely powdered tobacco for sniffing up the nose

   shag

   a strong coarse tobacco that has been shredded

   Turkish tobacco

   a dark aromatic tobacco of eastern Europe that is used in cigarettes

   cigar

   a roll of tobacco for smoking

   butt, cigaret, cigarette, coffin nail, fag

   finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking

   rappee

   strong snuff made from dark coarse tobacco

   latakia

   aromatic Turkish tobacco

   type of:

   drug of abuse, street drug

   a drug that is taken for nonmedicinal reasons (usually for mind-altering effects); drug abuse can lead to physical and mental damage and (with some substances) dependence and addiction

   plant product

   a product made from plant material