o|pi|um

o|pi|um «OH pee uhm», noun, adjective.

–n.

1. a powerful drug that causes sleep and eases pain. Opium is a narcotic made from the milky juice of the opium poppy and is a bitter substance, containing morphine and other alkaloids. Opium is valuable in medicine, but is dangerously habit-forming.

2. Figurative. anything having the properties or effects of opium: »

There is no antidote against the opium of Time (Sir Thomas Browne).

–adj.

of or having to do with opium: »

an opium dream, the opium traffic.

╂[< Latin opium < Greek ópion poppy juice, poppy (diminutive) < opós vegetable juice]