betel

plural betels · alternative obsolete beetel · alternative obsolete beetle

1. uncountableusuallyEither of two (parts of) plants often used in combination

   Her face was flushed with the tingling effect of betel leaves.

   1958, R. K. Narayan, The Guide, Penguin, published 1988, page 194

2. Either of two (parts of) plants often used in combination:
   1. uncountableusuallyAn evergreen Indian creeping shrub, Piper betle, whose dried leaves are chewed with betel nut: the betel pepper.
   2. uncountableusuallyThe betel palm, Areca catechu, and in particular its seed, the areca nut or betel nut.
3. uncountableusuallyA quid (chewing preparation) containing these and other plant materials; paan.

   He went to the rail to spit out a scarlet mouthful of betel […]

   1934, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Burmese Days

   2 more examples

   In a small Bamboo case, prettily carved and ornamented, the Dyak carries his sirih and lime for betel chewing, and his little long-bladed knife has a Bamboo sheath.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 126

   Within the range of his powers, he sends her, secretly, […] cosmetics such as red lac, red arsenic, yellow arsenic, red mercury sulphide, and black collyrium; sandalwood paste and saffron; and, in course of time, areca nuts and betel leaves for betel.

   2002, Vātsyāyana, translated by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, Kama Sutra, Oxford University Press, 3.3.16, pp. 83-84