nicotine
(ˈnɪkətiːn)
Also nicotin.
[a. F. nicotine: see nicotiana and -ine5.]
a. A poisonous alkaloid forming the essential principle of tobacco, from which it is obtained as an oily liquid; in small doses it has a stimulating action, but in larger amounts it blocks the actions of autonomic ganglion cells and skeletal muscle fibres.
| α 1819 J. G. Children Chem. Anal. 290 Nicotin exists in the leaves of tobacco. 1826 Henry Elem. Chem. II. 329 Nicotin. This is the principle in which reside the active properties of tobacco (nicotiana). 1880 J. W. Legg Bile 176 Three drops of nicotin in 50 grammes of water..cause an immediate but short increase of the bile. |
| β 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 886 Nicotine is a peculiar principle, obtainable from the leaves and seeds of tobacco. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §1 The volatile alkali, nicotine, the element of the snuffs. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 888 The view that nicotine has a more direct action. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlvii. 231 She had long, beautiful hands, with fingers deeply stained by nicotine. 1940 H. A. McGuigan Appl. Pharmacol. 589 When nicotine is injected intravenously, an enormous rise in blood pressure occurs. 1951 A. Grollman Pharmacol. & Therapeutics xv. 285 Nicotine produces extreme nausea and vomiting when taken even in comparatively small quantities. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IX. 100/2 Poisoning has occurred from accidental ingestion of insecticide sprays containing nicotine. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
nicotine-brown,
nicotine-free,
nicotine-like,
nicotine-stained adjs.;
nicotine poisoning.
| 1945 Dylan Thomas Let. 30 July (1966) 278, I can hear..my uncle Bob drinking tea and methylated spirits through eighty years of *nicotine-brown fern. |
| 1967 Daily Tel. 20 Jan. 17/7 The pleasure of *nicotine-free smoking. |
| 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 888 The pallor..observed in *nicotine intoxication. |
| 1914 *Nicotine-like [see muscarine]. 1948 J. H. Burn Lect. Notes Pharmacol. 15 Nicotine is a substance which possesses the nicotine-like actions of acetylcholine. |
| 1865 Times 15 Aug., One safe haven where no *nicotine perfume intrudes. |
| 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 905 *Nicotine poisoning being also excluded. 1951 A. Grollman Pharmacol. & Therapeutics xv. 282 In the treatment of nicotine poisoning, artificial respiration should be instituted. |
| 1936 C. Day Lewis Friendly Tree 12 A plump man with a *nicotine-stained moustache. 1967 A. Marshall in Coast to Coast 1965–66 121 He rubbed his chin with a nicotine-stained finger. |
Hence
nicoˈtinean a., produced by the smoking of tobacco;
ˈnicotined a., full of tobacco-smoke;
nicoˈtinian a. = nicotian a.;
ˈnicotinism, a diseased condition produced by the excessive use of tobacco;
ˌnicotiniˈzation, subjection to the action of nicotine;
ˈnicotinize v. trans., to drug or saturate with nicotine;
ˈnicotinized ppl. a., containing or drugged with nicotine.
| 1873 W. S. Mayo Never Again xxiv, Lapped in *nicotinean elysium, the incautious worshippers of the weed recline in fancied security. |
| 1889 C. C. R. Up for Season 193 A fragrance that purely Contrasts with this *nicotined air. |
| 1879 Cope's Tobacco Plant July 356/1 The man that..is not sooth'd with *Nicotinian herb. 1898 Daily News 20 Sept. 6/3 Thackeray..wrote and sang in nicotinian mood. |
| 1892 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Nicotinism, chronic tobacco poisoning. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 888 The less defined changes induced by alcoholism, nicotinism, and the like. |
| 1945 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. CXLIV. 192 The *nicotinization was maintained by adding nicotine (2 mgm./liter) to the perfusion fluid of the heart. 1966 Punch 9 Feb. 215/1 Today nicotinisation is complete with our own men taking the first breath of the day through a tube, lighting up automatically at the appearance of food, and thickening the bedroom air well into the early hours of the morning. |
| 1865 Reader 1 Apr. 374/3 They narcotize, but do not *nicotinize, themselves. |
| 1873 W. S. Mayo Never Again vi, Lanky, cadaverous,..*nicotinized young men. 1911 Jrnl. Physiol. XLIII. 181 The partial contraction suggests an anodic inhibition in the nerve cell like that which occurs in certain nicotinized striated muscles. 1940 Ibid. XCIX. 73 Acetylcholine injections have been observed to produce vasoconstriction in the nicotinized as well as in the normal perfused guinea-pig lungs. |