[dim. of cigar: in F. cigarette.] A small cigar made of a little finely cut tobacco rolled up in thin paper, tobacco-leaf, or maize-husk.
1842. Louisa S. Costello, Pilgr. Auvergne, I. 332. The habit of smoking cigarettes … is quite la grande mode of late with certain French ladies.
1843. Mrs. Romer, Rhone, Darro & G., I. 251–2. The beggars in the streets have paper cigars (called cigarettes) in their mouths.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 118. One evening I am lounging about smoking a cigarette and thinking of nothing, when I find myself suddenly throttled by our friend Ramiro.
b. Med. A similar roll of the leaves of medicinal plants or other medicated substances for smoking.
1876. Bartholow, Mat. Med. (1879), 7. The most effective method of treating an asthmatic paroxysm is by means of a cigarette containing various narcotic substances.
1881. Syd. Soc. Lex.
2. attrib. and Comb., as cigarette-case, -factory, -filler, -holder, -machine, -maker, -making, -paper, -smoke, -smoker, -tobacco, etc.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Sept., 6/2. The largest *cigarette factory in the world is said to be that of La Honradez, Cuba, which has a producing capacity of 2,530,000 cigarettes per day.
1886. Illust. Lond. News, 2 Jan., 2/1. Passwords among *cigarette-smokers.
