caporal

1
[ kap-er-uhl, kap-uh-ral ]

noun
  1. a variety of tobacco.

Origin of caporal

1
1840–50; short for French tabac du caporal tobacco of the corporal2

Words Nearby caporal

Other definitions for caporal (2 of 2)

caporal2
[ kap-uh-ral ]

nounSouthwestern U.S.
  1. an overseer, especially of a cattle ranch.

Origin of caporal

2
1590–1600; <Spanish: chief, manager <Italian; see corporal2

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use caporal in a sentence

  • A brown packet of caporal and a book of cigarette-papers—a cigarette rolled—how good it would be!

  • He entered the shop and emerged, not with caporal and cigarette-papers, but with the twelve Honduras stamps.

  • He produced a short briar-root pipe, and stuffed it with the last shreds of French caporal tobacco that remained in his pouch.

    In Friendship's Guise | Wm. Murray Graydon
  • Two others,—one an extremely small animal, called the “petit caporal,”—were favoured with places in the interior.

    Dog Breaking | William Nelson Hutchinson
  • He took up his porcelain pipe and filled it from the blue packet of caporal that lay on the table with the oilskin cover.

    The Belovd Vagabond | William J. Locke

British Dictionary definitions for caporal

caporal

/ (ˌkæpəˈrɑːl) /


noun
  1. a strong coarse dark tobacco

Origin of caporal

1
C19: from French tabac du caporal corporal's tobacco, denoting its superiority to tabac du soldat soldier's tobacco

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