puna
Americannoun
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a high cold dry plateau, esp in the Andes
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another name for mountain sickness
Etymology
Origin of puna
First recorded in 1605–15; from South American Spanish, from Quechua púna
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.
Step 1: Deep wells or puna are cleaned of dirt and debris so the sea water that enters them through underground channels is clean and conducive to salt making.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2024
On the puna, the more-than-two-mile-high sierra, the saffron moss took a little spring rain and greened.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was on her way to the vai puna, the spring by the beach, she said.
From White Shadows in the South Seas by Frederick O'Brien
The northern part of this plateau is commonly called the puna; the southern part, the “desert of Lipez,” in character and appearance is part of the great Puna de Atacama.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 2 "Bohemia" to "Borgia, Francis" by Various
The symptoms are described by many South American travellers; the attack of them is there, among other names, called the puna.
From The Art of Travel Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries by Sir Francis Galton
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.
