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Wednesday 25 July 2012

Entry: panatela (n.)

In context: "...Teddy Schacht has been known to enjoy the occasional panatela."

DefinitionA long slender cigar, esp. one tapering at the sealed end.

but also:

slang. A cigarette made of marijuana from Central or South America. Also more generally: marijuana.


Other:Interesting usage and etymology:

1956   ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues iv. 53   ‘Girl,’ he said, ‘come here. Jimmy's got the best panatella you ever smoked in your life.’


Etymology:  Apparently < Spanish panatela, panetela (see below), transferred use of panatela , panetela long, thin biscuit (1884 or earlier; 16th cent. in sense ‘kind of soup made from broth and grated bread’) < Italian panatella (see panatel n.).

The Spanish word is not attested in written sources denoting a cigar before 1884 (as also in the sense ‘long, thin biscuit’), but was apparently also borrowed into French (as panatella (1842); also 1846 or earlier as panetela, 1860 or earlier as panatela) earlier than into English.

In form panatella probably after French panatella.


SNOOT score: 1
 
Page: 395

Source: Oxford English Dictionary   


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