Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A bitter, colorless alkaloid, C7H8N4O2, present in cacao beans and in smaller amounts in tea leaves, kola nuts, and other plant parts, and used in medicine as a diuretic, vasodilator, and myocardial stimulant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A crystalline alkaloid (C7H8N4O2), forming salts with acids, volatile and very bitter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) An alkaloidal ureide, C7H8N4O2, homologous with and resembling caffeine, produced artificially, and also extracted from cacao and chocolate (from Theobroma Cacao) as a bitter white crystalline substance; -- called also dimethyl xanthine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun chemistry An alkaloid, of similar structure to caffeine, found in chocolate and cocoa.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Theobrōma, tree genus (Greek theo-, theo- + brōma, food) + –ine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the genus Theobroma.

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Examples

  • The biggie that most people have heard about is the caffeine relative called theobromine, which is the one usually shown on "I heart chocolate" tee-shirts, so that's a good place to start, with its trippy endorphins to create a pleasant buzz.

    rashbre central rashbre 2010

  • * Chocolate in any form is extremely toxic to man's best friend as it contains a harmful chemical called theobromine, which is fine for humans but is very dangerous for dogs

    Dog Magazine dot net - Home of K9 Magazine Freelance Writers 2009

  • Chocolate is the richest known source of a little-known substance called theobromine, a close chemical relative of caffeine.

    Chocolate's Startling Health Benefits 2011

  • The stimulant theobromine, which is also a diuretic.

    Leo Galland, M.D.: Holiday Food And Drug Combinations You Should Avoid M.D. Leo Galland 2010

  • BC1036, also known as theobromine, is the highly-anticipated antitussive drug candidate that Pernix management had yet to disclose the name of but previously noted could have enormous potential.

    unknown title 2011

  • Chocolate contains the compound theobromine which is a diuretic as well as a cardiac stimulant.

    Ur instrucshuns - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • The CEO stressed that theobromine which is a component found in cocoa serves as drug in the production and free flow of urine in cases in where accumulation of body fluids has resulted from heat failure.

    RICHNESS OF GHANA`s COCOA 2007

  • Something called phosphodiesterase inhibitors or methylxanthines are found in coffee and theobromine which is in chocolate can impact on mood.

    CTV News RSS Feed Dr. Marla Shapiro 2010

  • As a stimulant, chocolate's theobromine, historically used as an aphrodisiac, is a vasodilator, meaning it widens blood vessels, and is used to lower blood pressure.

    Alex Jamieson: Healing Hearts With Chia and Chocolate Alex Jamieson 2012

  • Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine -- both mental stimulants -- phenylethylamine (PEA), which raises our blood pressure and heart rate, and tryptophan, which helps release serotonin (sugar also produces that effect).

    EatingWell: The Neurologic Connection Between Kissing and Chocolate EatingWell 2011

  • Chocolate does contain several molecules with known pharmacological effects including theobromine, a stimulant primarily found in chocolate (which is the reason dogs can’t eat it); caffeine; phenylethylamine, which has been described as “an immediate shot of happiness”; and others.

    America’s chocolate tastes weird to the rest of the world, but most of us don’t even notice Tove Danovich 2022

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