machair

British

/ ˈmæxər /

noun

(in the western Highlands of Scotland) a strip of sandy, grassy, often lime-rich land just above the high-water mark at a sandy shore: used as grazing or arable land

"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

Etymology

Origin of machair

C17: from Scottish Gaelic

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:

machair

Neil said his sister's house was on the edge of an area of coastal meadow called machair next to the sea.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2025

From Stornoway, I drive north across a wide open landscape with wildflowers colouring the machair – the fertile calcium-rich sand and shell plains unique to the area.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 12, 2019

A complex of mounds on the wide sweep of machair at Bornais was excavated between 1994 and 2004.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2012

Latha dhomhsa siubhal bheann, one day as I travelled the hills; latha dhuinn air machair Alba, one day when we were in the lowlands of Scotland; on Scotia's plains.

From Elements of Gaelic Grammar by Stewart, Alexander

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023