mezquite

Noun

mesquite (plural mesquites)

1. Any of several deciduous trees of the genus Prosopis found in America, and used as forage, which have long, beige seed and bean pods which may be dried and ground into a sweet, nutty flour.
   • Between these canyons the river has a low but rather narrow flood plain, with cottonwood groves scattered here and there, and a chaparral of mesquite bearing beans and thorns.1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961...
2. The wood of these trees, used for smoking food, or charcoal made from this wood.
3. Country or land dominated by mesquite trees.
   • Tucson is situated in beautiful mesquite riverbed country, overlooked by the snowy Catalina range.1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC

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