Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An evergreen Indo-Malayan climbing or trailing shrub (Piper betle), having usually ovate leaves used to wrap betel nuts.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A species of pepper, Piper betle, a creeping, or climbing plant, a native of the East Indies, natural order Piperaceæ. The leaves are used as a wrapper for the little pellets of areca-nut and lime which are extensively chewed in the East. The pellet is hot and acrid, but has aromatic and astringent properties. It tinges the saliva red and blackens the teeth. Also called
betel-pepper . - n. A piece of betel-nut.
Wiktionary
- n. Either of two plants often used in combination
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A species of pepper (Piper betle), the leaves of which are chewed, with the areca or betel nut and a little shell lime, by the inhabitants of the East Indies. It is a woody climber with ovate many-nerved leaves.
WordNet 3.0
- n. Asian pepper plant whose dried leaves are chewed with betel nut (seed of the betel palm) by southeast Asians
Etymologies
- From Tamil வெற்றிலை (veṟṟilai) Tamil ("vettr"=variety ref + இலை (ilai, "leaf")), (Source: OED) (Wiktionary)
- Portuguese, from Malayalam vettila, veṟṟila, from Tamil veṟṟilai. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In the rare instances where scholarly literature mentions its subjective effects, the news about betel is uniformly good: It imparts the ... repeatedly described sensation of well-being, good humor, excitation, and comfort ...”
“When a visitor calls the betel-box is immediately passed to him; and as in regard to the eating of salt in Western Asia, so, in the eastern and southern portions, those who have once partaken of betel-nut together are ever after sworn to faithful and undying friendship.”
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 29, August, 1873
“The tall, slender areca palm, which stands about every kampong, supplies the natives with their great luxury -- an acorn, known as the betel-nut, which, when crushed and mixed with lime leaves, takes the place of our chewing tobacco.”
“The betel is a species of pepper, the leaf of which very much resembles that of the black pepper, but is highly aromatic and pungent.”
“The betel is a creeping-plant with an aromatic leaf.”
“This is an herb called betel, or _paune_, its leaf resembling that of our ivy.”
“The source of their euphoria is "binglang," the dried fruit of the areca palm, sometimes referred to as betel nut, which sets the nervous system buzzing and warms the body, especially after a large banquet.”
“She escaped a year again and through Apne-Aap has started her own "betel" shop (a digestive snack).”
“Strictly speaking, "betel" is the leaf of a climbing plant (buyo) that is chewed with the nut.”
“Thus, if your mother-in-law is called Dalu, which means "betel," you may not ask for betel by its ordinary name, you must ask for "red mouth"; if you want betel-leaf, you may not say betel-leaf (dalu 'mun), you must say karon fenna.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘betel’.
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SCIE - EU nomenclature
All the scientific words found in the official EU nomenclature. For the screening I used Vocabgrabber of the Visual Thesaurus.
silicon, silica, shrimp, shelve, shallot, serine, seedling, septic, secretin, seaweed, screening, Scomber and 1171 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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There's a sucker born every minute
Confections to sweeten the breath.
dragée, cachou, betel, chew, chaw, gum, bubblegum, gumball, mint, peppermint, mint imperial, after dinner mint and 21 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for betel.
chained_bear another usage note on bhang Mar 17, 2008
chained_bear "...his teeth were indeed quite black from the chewing of betel..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 111 Mar 4, 2008