cat's-claw

American  

[kats-klaw] / ˈkætsˌklɔ /

noun

1. a spiny shrub or small tree, Pithecellobium unguis-cati, of Central America, having greenish-yellow flowers and reddish, spirally twisted pods.

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Etymology

Origin of cat's-claw

First recorded in 1750–60

Example Sentences

Yesterday it had slept unborn in a nook of the sand-hills, the abiding-place of cat's-claw, mesquit, and flickering lizards.

From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 1, May 1908 by Various

As Havasu Creek is lined with willows that are admirably adapted for basket-making, and as an abundant supply of martynia, or cat's-claw, is found on the plateaus above, this Canyon is a veritable basket-makers' paradise.

From The Grand Canyon of Arizona; how to see it by James, George Wharton

Then she crept around the cat's-claw, where a man squatted, his eyes blazing with excitement.

From The Heart of the Desert Kut-Le of the Desert by Morrow, Honoré

There's a man standing in that clump of cat's-claw ahead.

From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 1, May 1908 by Various

Well known cat's-claw and cactus clumps had disappeared.

From The Forbidden Trail by Morrow, Honoré