alamo

[ al-uh-moh, ah-luh- ]

noun,plural al·a·mos.Southwestern U.S.
  1. a poplar.

Origin of alamo

1
First recorded in 1830–40, alamo is from the Spanish word álamo poplar, ultimately < a pre-Roman language of Iberia

Other definitions for Alamo (2 of 2)

Alamo
[ al-uh-moh ]

noun
  1. a Franciscan mission in San Antonio, Texas, besieged by Mexicans on February 23, 1836, during the Texan war for independence and taken on March 6, 1836, with its entire garrison killed.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alamo in a sentence

  • Landing instructions are being given at Los Alamos, and the ship will presumably land around midnight tonight.

  • The town of St. Georges dos Alamos is situated in the same government, and has a regular fortress.

  • It was only a few minutes past ten when they arrived at the air base at Los Alamos.

  • A betting pool was also started by scientists at Los Alamos on the possible yield of the Trinity test.

    Trinity [Atomic Test] Site | The National Atomic Museum
  • Like Alamos, Atla-Hi has the reputation for being a mysteriously dangerous place.

    The Night of the Long Knives | Fritz Reuter Leiber

British Dictionary definitions for Alamo

Alamo

/ (ˈæləˌməʊ) /


noun
  1. the Alamo a mission in San Antonio, Texas, the site of a siege and massacre in 1836 by Mexican forces under Santa Anna of a handful of American rebels fighting for Texan independence from Mexico

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Alamo

Alamo

[ (al-uh-moh) ]


A fort, once a chapel, in San Antonio, Texas, where a group of Americans made a heroic stand against a much larger Mexican force in 1836, during the war for Texan independence from Mexico. The Mexicans, under General Santa Anna, besieged the Alamo and eventually killed all of the defenders, including Davy Crockett.

Notes for Alamo

Rallying under the cry “Remember the Alamo!”, Texans later forced the Mexicans to recognize the independent republic of Texas.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.