tobacco heart

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a functional disorder of the heart, characterized by a rapid and often irregular pulse, caused by excessive use of tobacco.

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Etymology

Origin of tobacco heart

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The "irritable heart," the "tobacco heart," a life of promise impaired or blighted.

From Pushing to the Front by Marden, Orison Swett

By a tobacco heart it was meant that his heart was so badly affected that it did not perform its action regularly and properly.

From Frank Merriwell's Chums by Standish, Burt L.

There was too much officious paternalism in the air, too many admonitions and not enough lightness of heart—of tobacco heart if necessary.

From San Crist?bal de la Habana by Hergesheimer, Joseph