Tobacco Definition

tə-băkō

tobaccos

noun

tobaccos

Any of a genus (Nicotiana) of chiefly tropical American plants of the nightshade family, with hairy, sticky foliage and long-tubed, white, yellow, greenish, or purple flowers; esp., the species (N. tabacum) now widely cultivated for its leaves.

Webster's New World

The leaves of certain of these plants, prepared for smoking, chewing, or snuffing.

Webster's New World

Products prepared from these leaves; cigars, cigarettes, snuff, etc.

Webster's New World

Any of various other plants of the genus Nicotiana.

American Heritage

Products made from these plants.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
tobacco plant
baccy
plant
leaf
snuff
shag
weed
smoking
crop
cigarette
cigar
coffin-nails
filthy weed
smoke
nicotine

Other Word Forms of Tobacco

Noun

Singular:

tobacco

Plural:

tobaccos

Origin of Tobacco

Spanish tabaco probably partly from a Taíno word recorded by a Spanish chronicler as tabago tube for inhaling smoke (influenced by Old Spanish atabaca, altabaca a Mediterranean plant (Inula viscosa) having leaves widely used in traditional medicine) (from Arabic al-ṭubbāq) (al- the) (ṭubāq, ṭubbāq the plant I. viscosa)

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Attested since 1588, a loan from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word is either from Arabic طباق (á¹abāq, á¹ubāq, “a type of medicinal herb") or from a Taino word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves" or "a pipe for smoking tobacco". The term is thus either an Old World term (of Arabic origin) applied to a New World plant, or a New World word.

From Wiktionary