Caffeine. World English Historical Dictionary

Caffeine. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Caffeine

Chem. [ad. F. caféine, f. café coffee + -INE; see prec.] A vegetable alkaloid crystallizing in white silky needles, found in the leaves and seeds of the coffee and tea plants, the leaves of guarana, maté, etc.

1

1830.  Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 206. Coffee is … supposed to owe its characters to a peculiar chemical principle called Caffein.

2

1863.  Watts, Dict. Chem., I. 707. Caffeine was discovered in coffee by Runge in the year 1820. Oudry, in 1827, found in tea a crystalline substance which he called theine, supposing it to be a distinct compound; but Jobat showed that it was identical with caffeine.

3

1869.  Daily News, 22 July, 5/5. They exhibit a piece of kaffeine, of the size of a breakfast plate, produced from 120 pounds of coffee.

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