maguey
Americannoun
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magueys
plural
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any of several plants of the genus Agave, of the agave family, especially the cantala, A. cantala.
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the fiber from these plants.
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a rope made from this or a similar fiber.
noun
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any of various tropical American agave plants of the genera Agave or Furcraea, esp one that yields a fibre or is used in making an alcoholic beverage
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the fibre from any of these plants, used esp for rope
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of maguey
First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish, from Taíno
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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:
They expected the results might point to several different insects, since gusanos de maguey are harvested from the wild rather than raised through a standardized commercial system.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026
In his grief, Quetzalcoatl planted Mayahuel's remains, from which a maguey plant grew.
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2024
From her stall featuring regional delicacies — chile-infused dried grasshoppers, juicy white worms from the maguey plant and handmade chocolates, among other edible fare — 63-year-old Eufenia Hernandez issued a challenge to U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
Some steam adobo-marinated goat wrapped in maguey leaves in an oven.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2021
We pass milpitas, and big spiky maguey plants with white sheets and colorful laundry drying upon them.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
The following spring, all the magueys on the hill sprouted stalks that bore the graffiti that declared their eternal love, a bit of magical realism that’s also one of the great reveals in ranchera history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2021
I imagine those who wash our clothing and bedding then carefully drape it over magueys to dry.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
It is said that the early inhabitants of the islands subsisted for a long time upon roots and palms and magueys.
From De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera by Francis Augustus MacNutt
Meanwhile my comrades had crept into the magueys to wait for me.
From The Rifle Rangers by Mayne Reid
With this I could have brought her up on open ground, but we were running up a narrow lane, and on each side was a treble row of magueys, forming a most fearful-looking chevaux-de-frise!
From The Guerilla Chief And other Tales by Mayne Reid
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
