opium
nounUS /ˈoʊ.pi.əm/ · UK /ˈəʊ.pi.əm/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin opium and Ancient Greek ὄπιον (ópion), from ὀπός (opós, “juice of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷós (“juice, resin”).
1
A yellow-brown, addictive narcotic drug obtained from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine.
- From hence we firſt ſailed to Achin, in the iſland of Sumatra, and then to Siam, where we bartered our wares for ſome arrack and opium, the laſt of which bore a great price among the Chineſe:[…]1777, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 7th edition, London: […] S. Crowder, […]; J. Sewell, […]; W. Johnston, […]; and B. Law, […], →OCLC, page 277:
- Opium is largely used by the Chinese as a sexual provocation, both by men and women.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 169:
1 more example
- When Zhang Jiao and his Yellow Turbans send their peasants, they're not sending their best. They're sending peasants with lots of problems and the peasants bring their problems across the Yangtze. They're bringing opium, they're bandits. And some, I assume, are good people.2026 January 27, obongommunism, Instagram, depicts the speaker as U.S. President Donald Trump as a Han dynasty emperor:
2
Broadly Anything that numbs or stupefies.
- Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, […] It is the opium of the people.1843, Karl Marx, Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie [A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right]:
- Synonyms
- Derived terms
- antiopium, antiopiumist, copium, hopium, lanthopine, lettuce opium, opianine, opiomania, opiorphin, opium alkaloid, opium den, opium-eater, opium-eating, opiumism, opiumist, opium lamp, opiumlike, opium pillow, opium pipe, opium poppy, Opium War, wine of opium
- Hypernyms
- drug, opiate, opioid, recreational drug
- Hyponyms
- Dover's powder, high-hat, laudanum, yen pok