mesquite

or mes·quit

[ me-skeet, mes-keet ]

/ mɛˈskit, ˈmɛs kit /

noun

any of several usually spiny trees or shrubs belonging to the genus Prosopis, of the legume family, as P. juliflora or P. glandulosa, of western North America, having bipinnate leaves and beanlike pods and often forming dense thickets.

the wood of such a tree or shrub, used especially in grilling or barbecuing food.

any of various similar or related plants.

Nearby words

Origin of mesquite

1830–40, Americanism; < Mexican Spanish mezquite < Nahuatl mizquitl

Mesquite

[ me-skeet, mi- ]

/ mɛˈskit, mɪ- /

noun

a city in NE Texas, E of Dallas.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mesquite

Mistletoes on mesquite trees in central Mexico have been linked to a greater abundance of tropical bird species.
Mistletoe is the Vampire of Plants|Helen Thompson|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“The media really started to pay attention when someone died in 2011,” said Kenny Fritch, a 28-year-old from Mesquite, Texas.
A Report From the Misunderstood Gathering of the Juggalos|Steve Miller|July 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Its handle, she notes, was made from a mesquite tree in her back yard.
Holy Molé: Tucson’s Mexican Food with a Kick|Jane & Michael Stern|June 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
ST: At my house, cooked on my Big Green Egg over lump charcoal and mesquite.
Scott Turow: How I Write|Noah Charney|October 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST

He had scratches on his wrist, maybe from a cholla cactus or from sleeping under a mesquite tree.
Arizona's Immigrant Death Spiral|Bryan Curtis|July 28, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Our horses were Kentucky-bred, strengthened by the mesquite grass of the west.
Whirligigs|O. Henry
Castaeda speaks of the people beyond Chichilticale making a bread of the mesquite which kept good for a whole year.
The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))|John G. Bourke
Then the pony squealed again, and as it did so there came an answering equine hail from the mesquite.
Ruth Fielding In the Saddle|Alice B. Emerson
It was featureless save for sage and mesquite and tall thin stalks of yucca.
Space Platform|Murray Leinster
The wind, humming through a hundred leagues of sage brush and mesquite, closed their ears to the city's staccato noises.
The Voice of the City|O. Henry

British Dictionary definitions for mesquite

mesquite

mesquit

/ (mɛˈskiːt, ˈmɛskiːt) /

noun

any small leguminous tree of the genus Prosopis, esp the tropical American P. juliflora, whose sugary pods (mesquite beans) are used as animal fodderAlso called: algarroba, honey locust, honey mesquite

Word Origin for mesquite

C19: from Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl mizquitl

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

Word Origin and History for mesquite

mesquite

type of North American shrub of the pea family, 1759, from Mexican Spanish mezquite, from Nahuatl (Aztec) mizquitl "mesquite."