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chain smoker

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chain smoker

A person who smokes cigarettes continuously, such that he or she begins a new cigarette as (or almost as) soon as the last one is extinguished. My grandmother died of emphysema after being a chain smoker for most of her adult life.

See also: chain, smoker

chain smoker

One who smokes continually by lighting a new cigarette from the one being finished, as in Before they forbade smoking, bridge tournaments often attracted players who are chain smokers . [c. 1930]

See also: chain, smoker