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• alamo
  alamo

  noun

  a poplar.
• Alamo
  Alamo

  noun

  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.

alamo

¹ American  

[al-uh-moh, ah-luh-] / ˈæl əˌmoʊ, ˈɑ lə- /

noun

Southwestern U.S.

• alamos
  plural

1. a poplar.

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Alamo ² American  

[al-uh-moh] / ˈæl əˌmoʊ /

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.

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Alamo British  

/ ˈæləˌməʊ /

noun

1. 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

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Alamo Cultural  

1. 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.

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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• alamos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of alamo

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

alamo Alamo alamos

Having prepared the arrangements for his prospective guest, he returned and leaned against the alamo, filling his eyes with still delight of the sleeper.

From Success A Novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams

Here the river's banks are smothered in thickets of huisache, ebony, mesquite, oak, and alamo.

From Heart of the Sunset by Rex Ellingwood Beach

We came into the alamo, or shaded ride, through the plaza.

From A Volunteer with Pike The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and of His Love for the Fair Señorita Vallois by Robert Ames Bennet

The tree is called the alamo, or elm, the leaves of which, with those of the ramon, form in that country the principal fodder for horses.

From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by John L. Stephens

In the foreground where he had swung the hammock under the alamo it checked and was held, absorbed.

From Success A Novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams

“Boyhood” is also getting a theatrical release in select art house theaters around the country, including the Alamo Drafthouse chain on Sept. 7.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Reports surfaced that Sony and Alamo Drafthouse, the theater chain owned by the company, have been in talks to take over operation of the venue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Immigration agents arrested her in Alamo, Texas, on December 28 as she left church with her family.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

In 2024, the Culver City-based studio acquired dine-in theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

All my brothers except for Harry bore the names of proud Texas heroes, many of whom had laid down their lives at the Alamo.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

The sun was still shining on the river, but with his last rays; and the willows and alamos that grew along the bank threw their trembling shadows far over the water.

From The Tiger Hunter by Mayne Reid

“I was so near fried that the first gallon fairly sizzled down my gullet,” confessed Cap Pike after a long glorious hour of rest under the alamos with saturated handkerchief over his burning eyes.

From The Treasure Trail A Romance of the Land of Gold and Sunshine by Robert Wesley Amick