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Definition of "betel" [be•tel]

  • An evergreen Indo-Malayan climbing or trailing shrub (Piper betle), having usually ovate leaves used to wrap betel nuts. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "betel" in a sentence
  • "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."
  • "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."