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puna

[poo-nah]
noun
  1. a high, cold, arid plateau, as in the Peruvian Andes.
  2. Pathology. altitude sickness.
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Origin of puna

1605–15; < American Spanish < Quechua
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for puna

Historical Examples

  • The Puna bulls are, perhaps, the fiercest and most dangerous of all.

    The Forest Exiles

    Mayne Reid

  • The chill air of the Puna was even more endurable than such company.

  • But it is a far different affair with the bulls of the Puna.

  • On reaching the Puna, our party had made their day's journey, and would have halted.

  • Guapo's friend was esteemed one of the best in all the Puna.

British Dictionary definitions for puna

puna

noun
  1. a high cold dry plateau, esp in the Andes
  2. another name for mountain sickness
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Word Origin

C17: from American Spanish, from Quechuan
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