Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to chain-smoke

to chain-smoke

8 5.6
To smoke cigarettes one after another without stopping
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈtʃeɪnˌsmoʊk/
translation icon : fumar en cadena
  • While waiting for the bus, she began to chain-smoke one cigarette after another.
  • chain-smoking cigarettes
  • chain-smoking cigars
  • chain-smoking a pack

So he's drinking coffee and he's just having a blast, chain smoking cigarettes, watching boxing with a crew of guys that.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The entire staff of about 15 writers and editors gathered around a conference table, with Lal at the head, chain-smoking.

    Academic text (2011)

  • He would be in his classroom at lunchtime grading papers, chain smoking in the classroom.

  • Like, I used to chain smoke cigarettes, OK.

  • She was chain smoking like crazy.

  • While waiting for the match to begin, they chain-smoked Rym cigarettes and talked loudly.

    Academic text (2010)

  • I sat with this hero at a small kitchen table in his house once a week for six months while he chain-smoked Camel cigarettes and never opened a single window.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Alice chain-smoked out of moodiness, Mom chain-smoked out of frustration, and the house was full of smoke.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • When Crystal sat down and began chain-smoking, Hillary's already irritated right eye started to swell and sting.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • ARCHER'S HOME - BALCONY - NIGHT Castor's chain-smoking, looking out over the city, wondering where Archer might be hiding.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Gwen chain-smokes in the briny air, delirious with the smell lingering on her palms and fingers.

    Fiction book (2000)

Synonyms

to smoke like a chimney
vsto chain-smoke
  • Informal
3 6.8

To light and use many cigarettes every day

smoke continuously, lighting each new cigarette from the last

Antonyms

to quit
668 1.0

To stop doing a habit or activity like smoking

How Often

to smoke like a chimney
  • Informal
3 6.8
to chain-smoke
8 5.6
to smoke
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

chain-smoke infinitive
chain-smoked past
chain-smoked past participle
chain-smoking present participle
chain-smokes third person singular

Morphology

chain-smoke = chain + smoke (transparent) = chain + smoke

The verb is a straightforward compound of 'chain' + 'smoke' meaning to smoke in a chain (continuously), which learners can infer from the parts.

Etymology

The word chain-smoke combines chain and smoke, where chain gives the idea of linked rings that follow 'one after another'. So, to chain-smoke is to light each new cigarette from the last and smoke them one after another without stopping.