arroyo

[ uh-roi-oh ]
See synonyms for arroyo on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural ar·roy·os.
  1. (chiefly in southwest U.S.) a small steep-sided watercourse or gulch with a nearly flat floor: usually dry except after heavy rains.

Origin of arroyo

1
1800–10, Americanism;<Spanish; akin to Latin arrūgia mine shaft

Words Nearby arroyo

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

How to use arroyo in a sentence

  • So I run most days—sometimes a few miles, sometimes much more—through the sandy arroyos of my backyard in northern New Mexico.

  • arroyo had no night operator, so we agreed that the stolen engine might easily have slipped past there without being marked down.

    The Wreckers | Francis Lynde
  • Gorcher came back pretty soon with his clearance, which gave him the right to run to arroyo as first section of Number Eighteen.

    The Wreckers | Francis Lynde
  • He did it to the queen's taste; and in exactly eight minutes out of Banta we tore over the switches at arroyo.

    The Wreckers | Francis Lynde
  • arroyo has no night operator, and when we sneaked through the Banta yard and past the station, the operator there was asleep.

    The Wreckers | Francis Lynde
  • At midnight the wearied pursuers dropped down from a high plateau to a narrow arroyo.

    Average Jones | Samuel Hopkins Adams

British Dictionary definitions for arroyo (1 of 2)

arroyo

/ (əˈrɔɪəʊ) /


nounplural -os mainly Southwestern US
  1. a steep-sided stream bed that is usually dry except after heavy rain

Origin of arroyo

1
C19: from Spanish

British Dictionary definitions for Arroyo (2 of 2)

Arroyo

/ (əˈrɔɪjəʊ) /


noun
  1. Gloria Macapagal. born 1947, Filipino stateswoman; vice-president of the Philippines (1998–2001); president (2001–10)

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

Scientific definitions for arroyo

arroyo

[ ə-roiō ]


  1. A small, deep gully or channel of an ephemeral stream. Arroyos usually have relatively flat floors and are flanked by steep sides consisting of unconsolidated sediments. They are usually dry except after heavy rainfall.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.