noun
definition
Either of two plants often used in combination:
definition
A quid (chewing preparation) containing these and other plant materials; paan.
Examples of betel in a Sentence
Among the chief productions of the plains are rice (the staple export of the country); pepper (chiefly from Chantabun); sirih, sago, sugar-cane, coco-nut and betel, Palmyra or sugar and attap palms; many forms of banana and other fruit, such as durian, orange-pommelo, guava, bread-fruit, mango, jack fruit, pine-apple, custard-apple and mangosteen.
Everybody chews betel.
Areca catechu L. This species is cultivated in tropical Asia for its seeds, areca catechu L. This species is cultivated in tropical Asia for its seeds, areca or betel nuts.
Mouth cancer is much more common in parts of the world where people chew betel quid.
After the meal, diners nibble on Paan, a blend of cardamom, aniseed, sugar and grated coconut that has been wrapped in a lime basted betel pepper leaf.
Betel nut is popular in some parts of India and Asia.
Betel nut may be sucked or chewed like gum.
The people themselves are described as of " middle height, broadchested and muscular, with remarkably large hands and feet, the eyes large, the forehead round, and not narrow or receding in many instances, the nose broad, the mouth large and disfigured with betel."
The betel nut is the fruit of the Areca or betel palm, Areca Catechu, and the betel leaf is the produce of the betel vine or pan, Chavica Betel, a plant allied to that which yields black pepper.
Betel nuts are further used as a source of catechu, which is procured by boiling the nuts in water.
Betel nuts have been used by turners for ornamental purposes, and for coat buttons on account of the beauty of their structure.
The nuts of other species of Areca are used by the poorer classes in the East as substitutes for the genuine betel nut.
Arecoline is an oil, and the physiological action of the betel nut is alone due to this substance.
Many of the roots and vegetables of Europe have been introduced, as well as some of those peculiar to the tropics, including maize, millet, yams, manioc, dhol, gram, &c. Small quantities of tea, rice and sago, have been grown, as well as many of the spices (cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper and allspice),' and also cotton, indigo, betel, camphor, turmeric and vanilla.
Gutta-percha (getah percha in the vernacular), camphor, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, gambir and betel, or areca-nuts, are all produced in the island; most of the tropical fruits flourish, including the much-admired but, to the uninitiated, most evil-smelling durian, a large fruit with an exceedingly strong outer covering composed of stout pyramidal spikes, which grows upon the branches of a tall tree and occasionally in falling inflicts considerable injuries upon passers-by.
Clay-pipes may also give rise to cancer of lips in males in England, while cancer of the mouth of both sexes is common in India where chewing a mixture of betel leaves, areca-nut, tobacco and slaked lime is the usual practice.
The great bulk of the silver work is in the form of bowls of different sizes, in shape something like the lower half of a barrel, only more convex, of betel boxes, cups and small boxes for lime.
Among the principal goods dealt with are tea, silk, opium, sugar, flax, salt, earthenware, oil, amber, cotton and cotton goods, sandal-wood, ivory, betel, vegetables, live stock and granite.
The name betel is applied to two different plants, which in the East are very closely associated in the purposes to which they are applied.
The chief purpose for which betel nuts are cultivated and collected is for use as a masticatory, - their use in this form being so widespread among Oriental nations that it is estimated that onetenth of the whole human family indulge in betel chewing.
When chewed a small piece is wrapped up in a leaf of the betel vine or pan, with a pellet of shell lime or chunam; and in some cases a little cardamom, turmeric or other aromatic is added.
Among the Orientals betel is offered on ceremonial visits in the same manner as wine is produced on similar occasions by Europeans.
Guvacine, named from "guvaca," an Indian designation of the betel palm, forms white crystals.
The natives chew betel nuts instead of tobacco, and to the production of these nuts they devote more than 60,000 acres.