pitahaya

American  

[pit-uh-hahy-uh] / ˌpɪt əˈhaɪ ə /

noun

1. any of several cacti of the genus Selenicereus and related genera, of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America, bearing edible round or oval fruit usually having scaly skin and sweet pulp filled with seeds.

2. the fruit of any of several cacti of the genus Selenicereus and related genera.

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pitahaya British  

/ ˌpɪtəˈhaɪə /

noun

1. any giant cactus of Central America and the SW United States, esp the saguaro

2. Also called: dragon fruit.  the edible red pulpy fruit of such cacti, which has a mild sweet flavour

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Etymology

Origin of pitahaya

An Americanism first recorded in 1750–60; from Latin American Spanish, from Taíno

Example Sentences

Fruit they find too on several species of cactus; the best of them on the pitahaya, whose tall rigid stems, with limbs like the branches of a candelabrum, tower up around their camp.

From The Lost Mountain A Tale of Sonora by Reid, Mayne

On one side of the glade, where the ground was dry and sandy, there stood a small clump of pitahaya cactus.

From The White Chief A Legend of Northern Mexico by Evans, L.

For a considerable distance a fine slope rose to our left, strewn with loose rock masses, and covered with a growth which was chiefly pitahaya, some of the plants attaining the size of grown trees.

From In Indian Mexico (1908) by Starr, Frederick

The pitahaya, often more than thirty feet high and twelve to twenty-four inches diameter, is a fit companion for the Joshua, with an equally startling blossom.

From The Romance of the Colorado River The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great Canyons by Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel

It writhes and struggles across the hot earth, or spreads out silver-spined branches into a tree-like bush, or, in the great pitahaya, rises in fierce dignity like a monitor against the deep blue sky.

From The Romance of the Colorado River The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great Canyons by Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel