Immoderate or compulsive consumption of a drug or other substance; spec. a condition characterized by regular or poorly controlled use of a…

The quality, state, or condition of being addicted; devotion, adherence, attachment, esp. of a compulsive kind; (also) an instance of this…

Originally (in the terminology of N. Kerr): uncontrollable craving for intoxication by alcohol or narcotic drugs (now disused). Later: addiction to…

The craving of a drug-addict for his drug (originally for opium). (See also quots. 1929, 1937.)

addiction to a drug or drugs, esp. developed through habitual non-medicinal use of an illegal drug, such as a narcotic, opiate, or hallucinogen; an…

A craving for opium, the ‘opium-habit’.

habitual non-medicinal use of a drug or drugs, esp. the use of illegal drugs for their narcotic, stimulant, or mood-altering effects.

U.S. slang. A serious addiction to a drug, esp. heroin; an expensive drug habit. Cf. oil-burning adj. n. at oil, n.1 compounds 5.

slang. A drug addict's habit.