durra

American  

[door-uh] / ˈdʊər ə /

Or doura,

noun

1. a type of grain sorghum with slender stalks, cultivated in Asia and Africa and introduced into the U.S.

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durra British  

/ ˈdʌrə, ˈdʊərə /

noun

1. Also called: Guinea corn.   Indian millet.  an Old World variety of sorghum, Sorghum vulgare durra, with erect hairy flower spikes and round seeds: cultivated for grain and fodder

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Etymology

Origin of durra

1790–1800; < Arabic dhura ( h )

Example Sentences

Government spokesman Benjamin said at the time that more than half of the missing funds were from the country's so-called "durra" scandal, in which a large government purchase of sorghum was allegedly never distributed.

From Reuters • Mar. 14, 2013

Meanwhile, the four captives survive mainly on a sour porridge called durra, the staple of the region.

From Time Magazine Archive

When they both returned a good fire was burning in the camp; water was bubbling in the utensils in which boiled durra grain, two guinea-fowls, and smoked strips of venison.

From In Desert and Wilderness by Sienkiewicz, Henryk

Towns took the place of villages, with huts of the shape of bells, thatched with durra straw.

From Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part III. The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century by D'Anvers, N.

It is overflowed generally at the inundation, and its produce is very abundant, consisting in durra, wheat, barley, beans, cotton, a small grain called "duchan," tobacco, and some garden vegetables similar to those of Egypt.

From A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The Viceroy by English, George Bethune