Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Definition: tobacco from Collins English Dictionary

n pl -cos or -coes

1 any of numerous solanaceous plants of the genus Nicotiana, having mildly narcotic properties, tapering hairy leaves, and tubular or funnel-shaped fragrant flowers. The species N. tabacum is cultivated as the chief source of commercial tobacco

2 the leaves of certain of these plants dried and prepared for snuff, chewing, or smoking

[C16: from Spanish tabaco, perhaps from Taino: leaves rolled for smoking, assumed by the Spaniards to be the name of the plant]

› toˈbaccoless adj


Tobacco

From Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
TOBACCO IS INDIGENOUS to the Americas and was unknown to Europeans until the late 16th century. Its use among Native American peoples was widespread by this time; it was consumed largely for medicinal and religious purposes. Successfully grown by early settlers and exported to Europe, the plant ( Nicotiana spp., L. ) became a crucial crop for the pre-revolutionary American colonies, which relied heavily on slave labor in cultivation and processing. Today, tobacco is grown in more than 100 countries and most tobacco is used for smoking. Tobacco is an essential ingredient for cigarettes, pipes, cigars, hand-rolling tobacco, bidis, and kretek cigarettes. Cigarettes account for the largest share of manufactured tobacco products in the world—96 percent of total sales. Except for chewing tobacco in India, and possibly kreteks in Indonesia, cigarettes are the most common method of consuming tobacco. China is the world’s leading producer. According to data provided by the World Health…
6,976 results

Full text Article Tobacco use

From Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine
Tobacco use is endemic throughout the world. Tobacco can be smoked (as cigarettes, pipes or cigars), chewed (as compressed moist tobacco ‘plug’ or ‘twist’), snuffed (ground into fine powder and sniffed into the nose) or ‘dipped’ (as moist shredded or ground tobacco placed into the space between the…
| 3,754 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article tobacco

From Word Origins
Tobacco was introduced to Europe from the Americas, and that is where its name came from too. It originated in a Carib word, and reached English via Spanish and Portuguese tabaco . What precisely the Carib word meant, however, is a matter of dispute. Some say that it referred to tobacco leaves…
| 150 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article tobacco

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Tobacco is produced mainly from the plant...
Herb native to the Americas but cultivated throughout the world for its leaves, which are dried and smoked. It has large leaves with no stalk, and white, pink or red, star-shaped flowers. Nicotiana tabacum is the principal cultivated species. Seeds were brought to Europe in c .1520-30. Settlers in…
| 142 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Tobacco

From Encyclopedia of Women's Health
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there are many species of tobacco plants; the tabacum species is the major source of tobacco products today. Tobacco products include cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco. According to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 57…
| 681 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article tobacco

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
name for any plant of the genus Nicotiana of the Solanaceae family ( nightshade family) and for the product manufactured from the leaf and used in cigars and cigarettes , snuff , and pipe and chewing tobacco. Tobacco plants are also used in plant bioengineering, and some of the 60 species are grown…
| 663 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article TOBACCO

From The Reader's Companion to American History
Tobacco, one of the most widely used addictive substances in the world, is a plant native to the Americas and historically one of the half-dozen most important crops grown by American farmers. From 1617 to 1793 tobacco was the most valuable staple export from the English American mainland colonies…
| 1,075 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Tobacco

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Display of cigarettes and smoking tobacco. 1939....
In October 1492 Christopher Columbus wrote, I met a man alone in a canoe who was going from the Island of Santa Maria to Fernandia. [He had food and water] and some dry leaves which must have been a thing very much appreciated among them, because they had already brought me some of them as a present…
| 809 words , 3 images

Full text Article Tobacco

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
A plant cultivated for its leaves, which are dried for smoking, and used in place of cash in colonial America. The first commercial agricultural crops in the American colonies were nonfood items, and Virginia growers found a salable commodity in tobacco. In 1612, the variety of tobacco grown in…
| 669 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Tobacco

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
Tobacco
Produced from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana , tobacco is consumed in several different ways—primarily smoking, but also chewing and sniffing. Originally grown and consumed by the native peoples of the Americas, tobacco spread to Europe and the rest of the world following Columbian…
| 4,625 words , 3 images
Key concepts:

Full text Article tobacco

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Any of a group of large-leaved plants belonging to the nightshade family, native to tropical parts of the Americas. The species Nicotiana tabacum is widely cultivated in warm, dry climates for use in cigars and cigarettes , and in powdered form as snuff . When it is smoked, it burns and the smoke is…
| 697 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources