khat

Definitions

A shrub, Catha edulis, whose leaves are used as a mild stimulant when chewed or brewed as tea; also a drug produced from this plant.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“They are chewing on khat, a small serrated, bitter leaf with remarkable stimulative properties. […] One of the great things about khat[…] is that after a good chew you need⟳ to do something—walking, running, chopping wood, vigorously reciting a poem, throwing a grenade, anything that requires boldness and physical initiative.”

“Of course he was an amateur of quat – hashish – which delighted the cops.”

“‘And skinny Arab beggars who chew qat all day long to kill⟳ their appetites and get⟳ high on the weed.’”

“Habitually munching on narcotic leaves of khat, they are easy enough to spot, their gleaming Toyota four-wheel-drives slicing paths around beaten-up wheelbarrows and pushcarts.”

CEFR level