Tobacco. World English Historical Dictionary

Tobacco. 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. 1916, rev. 2022. Tobacco Forms: α. 6–8 tabaco, tabacco, (6–7 tabacca), 7 tabaccho. β. 6–7 tobaccho, 6–8 tobaco, tobacca, (6 tobacko, tobackco, 7 tobako, tobaccha, tobbacco, towbaco, tobaccow, 8 erron. tobago), 6– tobacco. γ. 7 tabac, toback, 7–9 tobac. [Altered from Sp. tabaco, according to Oviedo, the name in the Carib of Hayti of the Ｙ-shaped tube or pipe through which the Indians inhaled the smoke; but according to Las Casas, 1552, applied to a roll of dried leaves which was kindled at the end and used by the Indians like a rude cigar. Even before Oviedo’s date the name had been taken by the Spaniards as that of the herb or its leaf, in which sense it passed from Sp. into the other European langs.: Pg. tabaco, It. † tabaco (1578), tabacco (Florio, 1598), F. tabac, whence Du., Ger., Boh. tabak, Du. (17th c.) taback; Pol. tabaka, Russ. tabaku. The original forms tabaco, tabacco, were retained in Eng. to the 18th c., but gradually driven out by tobacco. Da. and Sw., and many Ger. dialects, have also tobak, Ger. 18th c. toback.

1 1535.  Oviedo, Historia de las Indias (1851), I. 131/1. Á aquel tal instrumento con que toman el humo, ó á las cañuelas que es dicho llaman los indios tabaco, é no á la hierva ó sueño que les toma (como pensaban algunos). Ibid., IV. 96/2. En lengua desta isla de Hayti ó Española se diçe tabaco.

2   But Dr. A. Ernst of Caracas, in Amer. Anthropologist, 1889, p. 133, criticizes Oviedo’s account, citing from the Guarani Vocabolario of Almeida Nogueira (Rio de Janeiro, 1879) taboca as the extant Guarani name for such a tube as that described by Oviedo, and used for inhaling through the nostrils not smoke but stimulating powders. He gives some reasons for holding that a Guarani tribe using this may have occupied the northern extremity of Hayti; and suggests that Oviedo, writing 43 years after the event, may have confused the use of this instrument with that of the tubular roll of leaves mentioned by Las Casas as tabacos.

3   The island of Tobago, after which the herb has been said by some to be named, according to ‘Tobago, a Geogr. Description’ etc. (c. 1750) p. 74, received the name from its resemblance in shape to the Indian pipe; but other accounts have been given: see quot. 1577 in sense 2.]

4   1.  The leaves of the tobacco-plant (see 2) dried and variously prepared, forming a narcotic and sedative substance widely used for smoking, also for chewing, or in the form of SNUFF, and to a slight extent in medicine.

5 1588.  Harrison, Chronol., in England (1877), I. App. i. p. lv. In these daies [1573], the taking-in of the smoke of the Indian herbe called Tabaco, by an instrument formed like a litle ladell, wherby it passeth from the mouth into the hed & stomach, is gretlie taken-vp & vsed in England.

6 1589.  Hakluyt, Voy., 541, margin. Tabacco, & the great vertue thereof.

7 1597.  1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., I. i. 397. What, oulde pipe of Tobacco! why, what’s to paye?

8 1598.  B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., I. iv. He dos take this same filthy roguish tabacco, the finest, and cleanliest! Ibid. [see DRINK v.1 5].

9 1600.  Sir R. Cecil, in Calr. Carew MSS., III. 485. I haue sent you tobacco, as good as I could procure any. Ibid. (1601), IV. 14. Tabacca.

10 1601.  ? Marston, Pasquil & Kath., I. 276. Ha, ha! Her loue is … just like a whiffe of Tabacco, no sooner in at the mouth, but out at the nose.

11 1608.  A. Willet, Hexapla in Exod., 442. Taking with them strong beere … tobaccha.

12 1612.  Dekker, If it be not good, Wks. 1873, III. 293. I thinke the Diuell is sucking Tabaccho, heeres such a Mist.

13 1616.  Sylvester (title), Tobacco battered; and the Pipes shattered (About their Eares that idlely Idolize so base and barbarous a Weed).

14 1622.  R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea, xvii. 39. With drinking of Tobacco it is said, that the Roebucke was burned in the range of Dartmouth.

15 1643.  Baker, Chron., Eliz., 65. Drake brings home with him Ralph Lane, who was the first that brought Tobacco into England.

16 a. 1668.  Lassels, Voy. Italy, I. (1670), 235. A little Town, famous for perfumed Tobacco in Powder.

17 1686.  Rec. Co. Merch. Alnwick, in Gross, Gild Merch. (1890), I. 131. Not to sell any grosser goods … towbaco or pipes.

18 1689.  W. Bullock, in 11th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. VII. 109. 2 rowles of chawing tobbacco.

19 1705.  Beverley, Virginia, I. iv. (1722), 56. The Duty of two Shillings per Hogshead on all Tobacco’s.

20 1726.  Mrs. Delany, in Life & Corr. (1861), I. 120. I am sure tobacca is there in its full force.

21 1738.  Penn. Gaz., 15 June, 6/1. The Agents of the French Commission at London, act as one Man, and by that Unanimity, have been able to reduce the Price of Tobacco as they pleased.

22 1777.  Account of Island of Tobago, 8, note. Columbus gave this island the appellation of Tobago, or Tabago, from a whimsical notion that its form resembled that of a tubical instrument, so called by the Aborigines, with which they inhaled the fumes of tobacco—the Indian name of which plant was kohiba.

23 1823.  Byron, Island, II. xix. Sublime Tobacco! which from east to west Cheers the tar’s labour or the Turkman’s rest.

24 1847.  Disraeli, Tancred, III. ii. The choice tobaccoes of Syria.

25 1875.  H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 364. Tobacco … has almost passed out of sight as a therapeutic agent.

26   2.  The plant whose leaves are so used: Any one of various species of Nicotiana (N.O. Solanaceæ), esp. N. Tabacum, a native of tropical America, or N. rustica (green or wild t.), now widely cultivated.

27 1577.  Frampton, trans. Monardes’ Joyfull Newes, II. (title), The Seconde Part,… where is treated of the Tabaco, and of the Sassafras [orig. Seqvnda Parte…. Do se trata del Tabaco, y dela Sassafras]. Ibid., 34. This hearbe which commonly is called Tabaco, is an Hearbe of muche antiquitie, and knowen amongest the Indians…. The proper name of it amongest the Indians is Piecielt, for the name of Tabaco is geuen to it of our Spaniardes, by reason of an Ilande that is named Tabaco.

28 1588.  Harriot, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1600), III. 271. There is an herbe [in Virginia] which is … called by the inhabitants Vppowoc: in the West Indies it hath diuers names…. The Spanyards … call it Tabacco.

29 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 32. There, whether yt divine Tobacco were, Or Panachæa, or Polygony, She fownd.

30 c. 1595.  Capt. Wyatt, R. Dudley’s Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 48. The high land of Paria, one of the fruitfullest places in the worlde for excellent good tobacco.

31 1660.  Act 12 Chas. II., c. 34 § 4. The planting of Tobaccho in any Phisike Garden.

32 1763.  Maryland Gaz., 17 March, 4/2. Said Campbell hath to sell Two young likely African Negro Fellows, that are season’d to this Climate, at a reasonable Price, in Bills of Exchange, Current Money, or Crop Tobacco.

33 1767.  J. Abercrombie, Ev. Man his own Gard. (1803), 172. Tender kinds of annual flowers such as … French and African marigolds, chrysanthemum, broad-leaved tobacco [etc.].

34 1853.  Royle, Mat. Med. (ed. 2), 579. Tobacco … is now extensively cultivated in most parts of the world.

35   b.  With defining words, applied to plants of other genera, as Congo tobacco (Cannabis sativa), found wild in the Congo (called by the natives deiamba), the narcotic flowers of which are used for smoking; English tobacco, † henbane, dial. colts-foot (also real tobacco grown in England); Indian tobacco, (a) Lobelia inflata of N. America, used medicinally, and having properties similar to those of tobacco; (b) Indian hemp, Cannabis indica (see HEMP); mountain tobacco, Arnica montana (see ARNICA); riverside tobacco, Plutchea odorata (N.O. Compositæ) of the West Indies; wild tobacco = Indian tobacco (a), (Cent. Dict.); see also TOBACCO-PLANT.

36 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. lxii. 284. Of yellow Henbane or English Tabaco.

37 1653.  Sev. Proc. Parlt., 9–16 Aug. No. 4. 48 (Stanf.). Reports … touching the Planting of English Tobacco in the County of Gloucester.

38 1678.  Anc. Trades Decayed, 15 (Stanf.). He hath laid the like Impost on our English Tobaccho too.

39 1846.  [see MOUNTAIN 9 d].

40 1851.  [see INDIAN A. 4 b].

41 1851.  R. O. Clarke, in Hooker’s Kew Jrnl., III. 9 (title), Short notice of the African Plant Diamba, commonly called Congo Tobacco.

42 1866.  Treas. Bot., 1154. Tobacco, Indian, Lobelia inflata; also Cannabis indica...—, Riverside, Pluchea odorata.

43   3.  attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as tobacco-ash, -breath, -cask, -fume, -garden, -jar, -juice, -leaf, -merchant, -monger, -powder, -reek (Sc.), -smoke, -stalk, -whiff; in Path. = caused by immoderate use of tobacco, as tobacco amaurosis, angina, disease, vertigo (see also tobacco heart in d). b. objective and obj. gen., as tobacco-abusing, -chewing, † -fuming, -growing, -smoking, -taking sbs. and adjs.; tobacco-drier, -seller, -smoker, -taker, -trader, -whiffer. c. similative, instrumental, etc., as tobacco-breathed, -stained, -stinking adjs.; tobacco-like adj. and adv. d. Special Combs.: † tobacco bait, ? a regaling with tobacco, a ‘smoke’ (cf. BAIT sb. 4); tobacco beetle, a small beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, of the family Ptinidæ, which infests stores of tobacco and other pungent substances (Cent. Dict., 1891); † tobacco clay = tobacco-pipe clay, pipe-clay; tobacco-cutter, (a) a person employed in cutting tobacco; (b) a machine or knife for this purpose; † tobacco-docks, humorous name for a substitute for tobacco made of dock-leaves; tobacco-dove, the small ground-dove of the Bahamas, Chamæpelia (Columbigallina) passerina (Cent. Dict.); † tobacco-fellow, a companion in tobacco-smoking, a fellow-smoker; tobacco-grater, a machine for grinding tobacco for smoking; tobacco heart, Path., a heart functionally disordered by excessive use of tobacco, characterized by a rapid and irregular pulse; tobacco house, † (a) a public resort where tobacco was sold and smoked; (b) a building in which tobacco is stored; tobacco-knife, ‘a knife for cutting plug-tobacco into pieces convenient for the pocket’ (Knight, Dict. Mech.); tobacco-liquor = tobacco-water; tobacco-man, a man who sells tobacco, a tobacconist (now rare or Obs.); tobacco paper, (a) paper in which tobacco is wrapped, or in which it is rolled for cigarettes; (b) paper impregnated with tobacco, used for fumigating; tobacco-pouch, a pouch for carrying tobacco for smoking or chewing; tobacco press, an apparatus for pressing tobacco into packages, or into a compact shape (Knight, Dict. Mech.); tobacco roll, a roll of tobacco (see ROLL sb.1 6 c); tobacco-roller, a person employed in making up tobacco in rolls; † tobacco-room, a room for smoking tobacco, a smoking-room; tobacco-root, a name for the root of the N. American plant Lewisia rediviva, used as food by the Indians; tobacco-shop, a shop in which tobacco is sold; formerly a public resort for smoking; tobacco-stick, ‘one of a series of sticks on which tobacco-leaves are hung to dry in curing-houses’ (Cent. Dict.); tobacco-stopper, a contrivance for pressing down the tobacco in the bowl of a pipe while smoking; tobacco-stripper, a person employed in stripping or tearing off the midribs of the leaves of tobacco; tobacco tongs, a light pair of tongs formerly used by smokers to pick up tobacco or a live coal for igniting it; tobacco-twister, a person employed in making twist tobacco (see TWIST sb.); tobacco-water, an infusion of tobacco in boiling water, used in veterinary medicine, and for sprinkling on plants to rid them of noxious insects; tobacco-wheel, a machine for making twist tobacco (see quot.); tobacco-worm, the larva of a sphinx-moth, Protoparce carolina, which feeds on the leaves of the tobacco-plant. See also TOBACCO-BOX, etc.

44 1643.  [Angier], Lanc. Vall. Achor, 20. Our … *Tobacco-abusing Commanders and Souldiers.

45 1879.  Harlan, Eyesight, v. 60. *Tobacco amaurosis is a form of partial paralysis of the optic nerve met with in excessive smokers.

46 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 29. *Tobacco angina is more prevalent amongst men.

47 1857.  Hughes, Tom Brown, II. ix. Soiled with the marks of toddy-glasses and *tobacco-ashes.

48 1618.  S. Ward, Jethro’s Justice (1627), 18. [They] cannot endure to hold out a forenoon or afternoone sitting without a *Tobacco bayte, or a game at Bowles.

49 1609.  Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., ii. 11. That thicke *tobacco-breath which the rheumaticke night throwes abroad.

50 1638.  Drumm. of Hawth., in Bk. Scot. Pasquils (1868), 69. Thesse *tobacco-breathed deuyns.

51 1878.  H. B. Baker, Our Old Actors, II. 95. Not the transpontine trouser-hitching, *tobacco-chewing monster.

52 1675.  Evelyn, Terra (1729), 7. Vessels made of *Tobacco-Clay.

53 1670.  Lond. Gaz., No. 529/4. A *Tobacco-cutter, lately dwelling in Fryingpan Alley in Petticoat-lane without Bishopsgate-street.

54 1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Tobacco-cutter. 1. A machine for shaving tobacco-leaves into shreds for chewing or smoking…. 2. A knife for cutting plug-tobacco into smaller pieces.

55 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 845. [We] are most familiar with *tobacco disease among seafaring men.

56 1599.  H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, Ep. Ded. Aa j b. The Yorkers they will bee content with bald ‘Tabacodocks. [Cf. 1599 Chapman, Humor. Day’s Mirth, E j b. Ber. … Haue you a pipe of good Tabacco?… Boy. Theres none in the house sir. Ve. Drie a docke leafe.]

57 1662.  R. Mathew, Unl. Alch., § 101. 170. Have ready a *Tobacco-drier, & put upon it a spungy thin brown paper.

58 1616.  Sylvester, Tobacco Battered, 148. These beastly, base *Tobacco-Fellowes.

59 1807.  Janson, Stranger in Amer., 339. The devastation produced by the *tobacco-fly which is of the beetle species, black and large enough to be seen committing its depredations.

60 1609.  Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., vi. 28. Libertie to be there in his *Tobacco-Fumes.

61 1634.  Wither, Emblemes, 5. In sleeping drinking and *tobacco-fuming.

62 1884.  H. M. Jones, Hints Health Senses, 144. A functionally affected heart,… resulting from Tobacco, and known as the *‘Tobacco Heart.’

63 1611.  Rich, Honest. Age (Percy Soc.), 42. For *Tobacco houses and Brothell houses, (I thanke God for it) I doe not vse to frequent them.

64 1676.  T. Glover, in Phil. Trans., XI. 635. The greatest part … had their Tobacco-houses blown down and their Tobacco spoiled.

65 1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xiv. There were spitting-pans placed … that they might not dirty the planks with the *tobacco-juice.

66 1598.  Marston, Sco. Villanie (1599), 166. That neuer turn’d but browne *Tobacco leaues.

67 1705.  trans. Bosman’s Guinea, xvi. 307. The Tobacco-Leaf here grows on a Plant about two Foot high.

68 1599.  H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, P iv. Whose stomach … Sucks vp *Tobacco like the vpmost ayr.

69 1864.  [see tobacco-root].

70 1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 875. A solution of corrosive sublimate, or a strong decoction of *tobacco-liquor.

71 1618.  N. Field, Amends for Ladies, III. i., in Hazl., Dodsley, XI. 127. Her fortune, o’ my conscience, would be To marry some *tobacco-man.

72 a. 1680.  Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 122. There was a Tobacco-Man, that wrapped Spanish Tobacco in a Paper of Verses.

73 1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Ep. Ded. By that time his *Tobacco merchant is made euen with.

74 1618.  J. Rolfe, in Capt. Smith, Virginia, IV. 126. There are so many sofisticating *Tobaco-mungers in England.

75 1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Tobacco-paper.

76 1882.  Garden, 21 Jan., 49/1. Fumigate with Tobacco paper on a calm day.

77 1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 30. They carry two Hankerchiefs at their girdle,… their *Tobacco-pouch hangs also at it.

78 1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xlv. He knocked the ashes out of his pipe,… returned the tobacco-pouch or spleuchan to its owner.

79 1672.  Phil. Trans., VII. 5021. Washing the Sore … and strewing *Tobacco-powder thereon.

80 1815.  Scott, Guy M., xi. I not the *tobacco-reek disagreeable to your honour?

81 1679.  M. Rusden, Further Discov. Bees, 108. Much like to a *Tobacco-roll standing upright.

82 1856.  Olmsted, Slave States, 361. All quiet housekeepers were kept in a state of excited alarm during the seasons when the *tobacco-rollers were in town.

83 1656.  in Westm. Gaz., 17 Oct. (1902), 2/3. Uppon my returne into the Howse … I mett Major-General Desborough in the *tobacco roome.

84 1864.  Chamb. Encycl., VI. 109/2. Lewisia … rediviva.… Its roots are gathered in great quantities by the Indians…. It is called *Tobacco Root because, when cooked, it has a tobacco-like smell.

85 c. 1645.  in Archæologia, LII. 137. Seriaunt Maior William Underwood a *Tobacco seller in Bucklersbury.

86 1605.  Chapman, All Fooles, I. i. Th’art known in Ordinaries, and *Tabacco-shops.

87 1597–8.  Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. iv. 41. Quaffs a whole tunnel of *tobacco smoke.

88 1848.  trans. Hoffmeister’s Trav. Ceylon, etc., iv. 174. Like our *tobacco-smokers lounging on their sofas.

89 1897.  Westm. Gaz., 12 May, 2/1. He would look at their *tobacco-stained tongues.

90 1704.  Luttrell, Briel Rel. (1857), V. 485. The officers of the customes burnt publickly in this citty 12 load of *tobacco stalks lately seized.

91 1636.  Sylvester, Tobacco Battered, 763. Awefull Justice will … at one blow cut-off this Over-Drinking, And ever Dropsie, of *Tobacco-stinking.

92 1664.  Butler, Hud., II. III. 454. By his proper Figure, that’s like *Tobacco-stopper.

93 a. 1701.  Cibber, Love makes Man, I. i. As inseparable Companions, as a Beau and a Snuff Box, or a Curate and a Tobacco-stopper.

94 1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxxviii. He used the little finger … as a tobacco-stopper.

95 1725.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6380/7. Elizabeth Sims,… *Tobacco stripper.

96 1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 240. Hee will needes be a man of warre, or a *Tobacco taker.

97 1666.  W. Boghurst, Loimographia (1894), 55. *Tobacco-taking, Diemerbrook greatly commends; but how many thousand Tobacco-takers think you, dyed this year?

98 1669.  Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. xl. (1682), 139. We fastened a small pair of *Tobacco-Tongs to the inside of the Receivers Brass Cover.

99 1808.  Cobbett’s Weekly Pol. Reg., XIII. 134. Thread-spinners and *tobacco-twisters.

100 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 152. *Tobacco vertigo and the other nervous consequences of the weed.

101 1808.  Nicholson’s Jrnl., XIX. 298 (heading). On the Use of *Tobacco Water, in preserving Fruit Crops, by destroying Insects.

102 1851.  Birmingham & Midl. Gard. Mag., Dec., 236. Mix up flour of sulphur,… and tobacco-water,… and dress the trees with the mixture.

103 1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Tobacco-wheel, a machine by which leaves of tobacco are twisted into a cord.

104 1611.  [Tarlton], Jests (1628), C iij b. *Tobacco whiffes made them leaue him to pay all.

105 c. 1614.  Fletcher, etc., Wit at Sev. Weap., IV. i. Great *tobacco-whiffers.

106 1773.  Hist. Brit. Dom. in N. Amer., XI. iii. 190. The *tobacco-worm is a caterpillar of the size and figure of a silk-worm.

107   Hence (chiefly humorous nonce-wds.) † Tobacchian, a. addicted to tobacco; sb. a person addicted to tobacco; † Tobaccical, Tobaccoic adjs., pertaining to, addicted to, or caused by tobacco; Tobaccoed, Tobaccofied adjs., characterized by the use of tobacco; Tobaccoite, an advocate of tobacco; Tobaccoless a., without tobacco, not supplied with tobacco; Tobaccophil(e [-PHIL], a lover of tobacco; Tobaccose (-bacch-) a., addicted to, or characterized by addiction to, tobacco; Tobaccoy a., impregnated with or smelling of tobacco-smoke.

108 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. lxiii. § 2. 286. It is not so thought nor receiued of our *Tabackians.

109 1615.  Sir E. Hoby, Curry-combe, i. 25. Whom he describeth to be one of the Knights fellow tobaccæan Wrighters.

110 1637.  Venner, Tobacco, in Via Recta, 359. Such … are no base Tobacchians: for this manner of taking the fume, they suppose to be generous.

111 1604.  Will W. Woodhall. Perceiving his *tabackicall humor.

112 1841.  National Gaz. (Philad.), 3 Dec., 4/1. He never accepted these invites except on Sundays, but, to use his own words, he ‘teaed and *tobaccoed’ from home every evening, prudently conferring the favour of his company on his friends in a well regulated cycle, and according to a list which he kept on purpose.

113 1893.  Granta, 2 Dec., 113. Luxurious and tobaccoed ease.

114 1846.  Thackeray, Cornhill to Cairo, xv. A dreamy, hazy, lazy, *tobaccofied life.

115 1878.  Cope’s Tobacco Plant, Jan., 130/1. Three hundred years … have failed to develop any distinct *Tobaccoic disease.

116 1898.  Daily News, 9 Sept., 5/1. Eventually the *tobaccoites completely routed their opponents.

117 1840.  R. G. Latham, Norway, I. 189. It is better to be without a whip than *tobaccoless.

118 1889.  Sat. Rev., 4 May, 528/1. Left tobaccoless after dinner!

119 1882.  M. Howie, in Knowledge, I. 343. The smaller appetite of the inveterate *tobaccophile.

120 1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. II. 194/2. Many *tobacchose epicures who smoke their regular dozen. Ibid., II. 731. Tobaccose.

121 1840.  J. T. Hewlett, P. Priggins, xx. Taken … out of the *tobaccoy atmosphere into the open air.

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