# cola

Pronunciation: say "KOH-luh" US /ˈkoʊlə/, UK /ˈkəʊ.lə/

## Noun

1. A carbonated soft drink flavored with kola nut and caramel, usually sweet and dark in color.
   - Simple: A sweet, fizzy drink that is dark brown and flavored with kola nut and caramel.
   - _He poured himself a tall glass of cola over ice._
   - _Most fast-food chains stock at least one brand of cola._
2. A tropical African tree of the genus Cola, valued for its caffeine-rich nuts, or one of those nuts.
   - Simple: A tropical tree whose nuts are used to flavor drinks, or one of its nuts.
   - _Traders once carried cola across the Sahara to sell in distant markets._
   - _Each cola contains natural caffeine that gives a mild energy boost._
3. A dense cluster of flower buds growing along the stem of a cannabis plant.
   - Simple: The thick group of flower buds that grows along the stem of a cannabis plant.
   - _Experienced growers prune the lower branches so the main cola grows larger._
   - _By late fall the colas had swollen with dense, sticky flowers._

## Noun

4. Plural of colon, dated. Used mainly in rhetoric and prosody for a clause or unit of verse; the usual plural is colons. *(dated)* — plural of colon
   - Simple: Plural of colon. A dated plural, used mainly for colon as a part of a sentence or verse, not the punctuation mark.
   - _Classical rhetoricians composed their periods from carefully balanced cola._
   - _The translator preserved the original cola of each Greek sentence._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2** — This comes from a Niger-Congo language, comparable to Temne "kola" and Mandinka "kola." The beverage "Coca-Cola" made the term widely known and popularized the spelling with a "c" instead of a "k."
**Meaning 3** — An unadapted borrowing from Spanish "cola" ("tail"), from Vulgar Latin "coda," from Latin "cauda," or from its diminutive "caudula." It is a doublet of "queue" and "coda."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cola (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).