chain smoker

Idioms  

1. 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]

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Example Sentences

The books, he said, described his brother as a chain smoker, someone who honed his skills in Cairo and reported from Vietnam — none of which is true.

From New York Times • Feb. 18, 2024

Sheikh Khamis al-Hasnawi, a Sunni wise man of the Albu Issa tribe in Iraq, was a chain smoker, regal in demeanor, always clad in a flowing white robe with gold trim.

From New York Times • May 26, 2018

And so Washington has become the former chain smoker who was just offered a cigarette.

From Washington Post • Sep. 24, 2016

I remember the old chairman was a great chain smoker and I would say: 'Can you give me a list of players you've got?'.

From The Guardian • May 17, 2013

EPA scientists admit that the danger of getting a whiff of tobacco at the baseball stadium is generally not the same as driving in an enclosed car with a chain smoker.

From Time Magazine Archive