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.
1830–40, < Mexican Spanish mezquite < Nahuatl mizquitl
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hidden on Pico Boulevard behind no obvious sign and characterized by hood-free mesquite grills and stacked wine crates, the place exuded a secret charm.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025
Birds sing among dense copses of mesquite trees; flowers hang heavily from bushes; ocelots and jaguars pass through.
From Slate • May 26, 2025
It’s three miles from there to State Route 92, a trek through mesquite and grassland, floodplains and furrows that serve as a rough-hewn pathway to the two-lane blacktop and the interior that lies beyond.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2025
About 100 native trees, including desert willows, ironwoods and mesquite, were donated by a local nursery and planted.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 18, 2024
The day dawned, and already the time of youth was fleeing the house which the three giants of my dreams had built on the hill of juniper tree and yucca and mesquite bush.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
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.
