acequia
Americannoun
-
acequias
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of acequia
1835–45, < Spanish < Arabic al-sāqiyah the irrigation ditch
Explanation
An acequia is a trench that's used to irrigate farmland. Acequias are common throughout the Americas, from Argentina to Colorado. The Spanish word acequia has an Arabic root, al-sāqiyah, "one that bears water." In parts of Mexico and Spain, irrigation canals have long been known as acequias. These watercourses, and the Spanish word for them, spread into parts of the U.S. that were once Spanish colonies. Some acequias still functioning today in Colorado and New Mexico were dug more than 400 years ago.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He turned a wheel that opened an acequia and flooded the field with clear, cold water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024
Madrid said some parciantes — or acequia members — grow crops to supply regional farm-to-table programs and farmers markets.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2021
Once an acequia commissioner and now a U.S. congresswoman, Leger Fernández knows how hard it is to tell farmers they won’t get all the water they need — or maybe none at all.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2021
He said that bickering over acequia flows had intensified as farmers vied for increasingly scarce irrigation water.
From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2021
He came to where I stood directing the waters of the acequia down the rows of corn.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
We passed over acequias — a system of communal irrigation ditches originating with the Moors that New Mexico’s farmers have used for centuries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024
Growing up in New Mexico, Hayes-Rich played and swam in centuries-old irrigation systems known as acequias, built by Indigenous Pueblo people and Spanish settlers, that flow beneath the U.S.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 19, 2023
"I've lived here all my life. I've never seen it run dry," said Theresa Dunworth, an accountant who works with a farm group in the South Valley where centuries-old "acequias" or channels irrigate fields.
From Reuters ● Nov. 1, 2022
In recent decades, San Antonio’s relatively small, walkable downtown — due in part to streets that trace the path of Spanish colonial-era irrigation canals called acequias — has been outpaced by suburban growth and development.
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
The fields are still irrigated by acequias or ditches from the Gila, and still fenced by forks of trees set closely in the ground and reinforced with branches of thorn or barbed wire.
From Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights Being the myths and legends of the Pimas of Arizona by J. William Lloyd
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