quebracho

American  

[key-brah-choh, ke-brah-chaw] / keɪˈbrɑ tʃoʊ, kɛˈβrɑ tʃɔ /

noun

quebrachos plural

1. any of several tropical American trees of the genus Schinopsis, having very hard wood, especially S. lorentzii, the wood and bark of which are important in tanning and dyeing.

2. a tree, Aspidosperma quebrachoblanco, of the dogbane family, yielding a medicinal bark.

3. the wood or bark of any of these trees.

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quebracho British  

/ keɪˈbrɑːtʃəʊ, keˈβratʃo /

noun

1. either of two anacardiaceous South American trees, Schinopsis lorentzii or S. balansae, having a tannin-rich hard wood used in tanning and dyeing

2. an apocynaceous South American tree, Aspidosperma quebrachoblanco, whose bark yields alkaloids used in medicine and tanning

3. the wood or bark of any of these trees

4. any of various other South American trees having hard wood

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• quebrachos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of quebracho

First recorded in 1880–85; from South American Spanish, variant of quiebracha, quiebra-hacha literally, “(it) breaks (the) hatchet”; see quebrada, hatchet

Example Sentences

Cattle had been slaughtered or driven away; production of quebracho extract, an export staple used in tanning, had dropped.

From Time Magazine Archive

In protest, he created his "literature of commitment" to call attention to poverty and death on banana plantations and in quebracho forests.

From Time Magazine Archive

Paraguay wants the Chaco because the district is larger than the rest of their country and its jungles contain great growths of the quebracho tree, whose bark yields 30% tannin.

From Time Magazine Archive

And the important quebracho, tobacco and cotton trade with Argentina was logjammed against Juan Per�n's nationalistic economy.

From Time Magazine Archive

One night we finished at 11 p.m., after a hard day's work, three of us unloaded 300 quebracho posts in under three hours.

From Argentina from a British Point of View by Various