benzo

• IPA^(key): /ˌbɛnzoʊ/

benzo (not comparable)

1. (organic chemistry) Of a ring compound, especially a heterocycle, which also has a fused benzene ring.

benzo (plural benzos)

1. (organic chemistry) A divalent radical formed by the removal of two adjacent hydrogen atoms from a benzene ring.
2. (organic chemistry) Sometimes used in place of the phenyl group. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (informal) Clipping of benzodiazepine.

   Coordinate term: barb

   • 1998, Jerry Dorsman, How to Quit Drugs for Good, New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 50:

     The benzos, it turns out, are just as highly addicting as the barbs, but they do have a much lower potential to cause death by overdose.

   • 2014, Greg Kurstin, Lily Allen (lyrics and music), “Our Time”, in Sheezus, performed by Lilly Allen:

     I feel fly / I'm rocking Kenzo / I'll get high, but I ain't doing benzos

   • 2020, “Darkness”, in Music to Be Murdered By, performed by Eminem:

     Now I'm starin' at the room service menu off a benzo / I can hear the music continue to crescendo

   • 2023 May 4, Manisha Krishnan, “Man Arrested After Opening Heroin, Cocaine, and Meth Store in Canada”, in Vice‎:

     Martin said he was partially inspired to open the store by his stepbrother Gord Rennie, who died of a drug overdose last year. Rennie was interviewed in the VICE News Tonight documentary, Beyond Fentanyl, about his addiction to benzo dope.

• bonze

benzo

1. first-person singular present indicative of benzer