See Also: opium(dictionary)
Opium(medicine)
opium(encyclopedia)
gum opium(medicine)
opium(dictionary)
opium poppy(encyclopedia)
Opium Wars(encyclopedia)
pudding opium(medicine)
powdered opium(medicine)
granulated opium(medicine)

opium (iou)



opium noun. ME.
[Latin from Greek opion poppy juice, opium, dim. of opos vegetable juice, from Indo-European base meaning 'water'.]
A reddish-brown strong-scented addictive drug prepared from the thickened dried juice of the unripe capsules of the opium poppy (see below), used (formerly esp. in the East) as a stimulant and intoxicant, and in medicine as a sedative and analgesic. ME.
fig. Something that soothes or dulls the senses. E17.
N. Annan Kingsley might protest that religion was being used as opium for the people. Scientific American Formalism is the opium of the thinking classes.
Comb.: opium den a haunt of opium-smokers; opium dream a dream during an opium-induced sleep; opium joint US = opium den above; opium poppy the plant which yields opium, Papaver somniferum, a glaucous poppy with chiefly white or lilac flowers; Opium War: waged by Britain against China (1839-42) following China's attempt to prohibit the importation of opium.