codeine

[koh-deen]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR codeine ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Pharmacology.

a white, crystalline, slightly bitter alkaloid, C18H21NO3, obtained from opium, used in medicine chiefly as an analgesic or sedative and to inhibit coughing.

Also co·de·ia

[koh-dee-uh] /koʊˈdi ə/, co·de·i·na

[koh-dee-ee-nuh] /ˌkoʊ diˈi nə/.

Origin of codeine

1830–40; < Greek kṓde(ia) head, poppy-head + -ine²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for codeine

heroin, opiate, drug, poppy, morphine, dope, hypnotic, soporific, tar, papaverine

Examples from the Web for codeine

Contemporary Examples of codeine

Because of the wide variability in codeine metabolism, its use as a cough suppressant is not recommended.
Codeine Still Widely Prescribed to Kids Despite Decades-Old Warnings
Russell Saunders
April 24, 2014
Codeine should not have been prescribed for these patients because its metabolism in children varies widely from person to person.
Codeine Still Widely Prescribed to Kids Despite Decades-Old Warnings
Russell Saunders
April 24, 2014
“Junk,” we learn, refers to opium and its derivatives: morphine, heroin, pantopon, Dilaudid, codeine.
American Dreams, 1953: ‘Junky’ by William S. Burroughs
Nathaniel Rich
June 27, 2013
The Demerol, the vicodin, the percocet, codeine, the cocaine, the Jack Daniels, the wine.
Inside the Latest Michael Jackson Trial—the One With $40 Billion on the Line
Diane Dimond
April 1, 2013
Lil Wayne once said that quitting sizzurp—cough syrup laced with codeine—‘feels like death in your stomach.’
Rapper Lil Wayne and His Struggle With Sizzurp ‘Drank’
Allison Samuels
March 18, 2013

Historical Examples of codeine

Morphine and codeine are believed alone to give this reaction.
Poisons: Their Effects and Detection
Alexander Wynter Blyth
Other salts of Codeine are not described because used substantially as the above.
Merck's 1899 Manual
Merck & Co.
Codeine gives the same reaction, but no other of the alkaloids.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 324, March 18, 1882
Various
Its meythl ester, which can be formed from it, is codeine, one of the accompanying alkaloids of opium.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883
Various
Commercial morphia and its preparations are often contaminated with codeine, narcotine, and colouring matter.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II
Arnold Cooley

British Dictionary definitions for codeine

codeine

noun

a white crystalline alkaloid prepared mainly from morphine and having a similar but milder action. It is used as an analgesic, an antidiarrhoeal, and to relieve coughing. Formula: C 18 H 21 NO 3

Word Origin for codeine

C19: from Greek kōdeia head of a poppy, from kōos hollow place + -ine ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for codeine

alkaloid present in opium, 1838, from French codéine, coined, with chemical suffix -ine (2), from Greek kodeia "poppy head," related to kooz "prison," literally "hollow place;" kodon "bell, mouth of a trumpet;" koilos "hollow," from PIE root *kel- (see cell). Originally codeina; modern form is from 1881.

codeine in Medicine