chain-smoke

American  

[chayn-smohk] / ˈtʃeɪnˌsmoʊk /

verb (used with or without object)

chain-smoked, chain-smoking

1. to smoke continually, as by lighting one cigarette, cigar, etc., from the preceding one.

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chain-smoke British  

verb

1. to smoke (cigarettes, etc) continually, esp lighting one from the preceding one

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Other Word Forms

• chain smoker
  noun
• chain-smoker
  noun

Etymology

Origin of chain-smoke

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chain-smoke chain-smoked chain-smoking

Along with imploring D’Angelo not to chain-smoke during interviews for his 1995 debut album, “Brown Sugar,” Ms. Williams would put in time with artists from Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records, L.A.

From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2018

Although Bill Douglas will not put his lanky legs on the high court's august desk or chain-smoke cigarets during hearings, he may often wish he could.

From Time Magazine Archive

Setting forth last month, armed with a hoard of cigars to chain-smoke, rotund Minister Erhard announced that he was going East with an open mind.

From Time Magazine Archive

Whenever the tone of the film tilts toward the overly reverent, Waters comes in with a bit of wisecracking, truthtelling remembrance: Oliver chain-smoked, swore, was stubborn, walked in the forest “like a crazy person.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

"She was amazing. She was this supercrotchety, high fem, old-school lesbian. She was a thrift store dressing person, and had a dog, and drove a Jeep, and chain-smoked, and she had no filter."

From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2020

Now one splayed comfortably across a wicker couch, a few chain-smoked and all gripped cell phones as a humid Alabama summer morning dampened the air.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2019

At the entrance to one alley, middle-aged men chain-smoked and played cards at round tables outside a restaurant.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 16, 2018

White men and women drank, chain-smoked, munched pretzels and other eatables, gossiped eagerly and played darts.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Kerewin is a memorable heroine, a chain-smoking, stumpy, frizzy-haired genius of a woman who can outfight, outfish and outwit anyone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Eugene Levert, chain-smoking next to a stack of books while wearing a vertical blue-striped button-down and khaki slacks, looked the scholarly mirror of Doug Lamplugh, in a horizontal blue-striped polo and khaki shorts.

From Slate ● May 4, 2026

A second Russian intelligence team circled, including a chain-smoking blonde woman referred to only as "Red Sparrow".

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025

The downtrodden, nostalgic, chain-smoking detective has accompanied Padura since 1991, when “Past Perfect” — the first of the “Havana Quartet” series featuring Conde as the main protagonist — was published.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2024

I tried to remain inconspicuous in the newsroom, but one of the typesetters, a crabbed, chain-smoking woman who always wore a hairnet, took a dislike to me.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls