saguaro

[ suh-gwahr-oh, -wahr-oh ]

noun,plural sa·gua·ros.

a tall, horizontally branched cactus, Carnegiea (or Cereus) gigantea, of Arizona and neighboring regions, yielding a useful wood and bearing an edible fruit: still locally common, though some populations have been reduced.

Origin of saguaro

1855–60, Americanism;<Mexican Spanish saguaro, sahuaro, said to be <Opata (now extinct Uto-Aztecan language of Sonora)

Words Nearby saguaro

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use saguaro in a sentence

Those are saguaro cactuses…the big ones…birds make holes in them and build their nests inside.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile | Robert Ward | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The little unincorporated community sits in a lonely stretch of hot desert amidst black rocks and saguaro cactuses.
In Tiny Ajo, Arizona, Border Patrol Agents Are Living the Dream | Terry Greene Sterling | September 22, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
On her other side was a wizened little old fellow with a wrinkled face and ribs corrugated like a saguaro.
The Hohokam Dig | Theodore Pratt
The saguaro has a skeleton of woody ribs bound together by tough, woody fibers.
The Angel of the Gila: | Cora Marsland
Their packs bore tanned skins, fruit of the saguaro cactus, edible roots of the mescal plant, and other trade goods.
The Story of Geronimo | James Arthur Kjelgaard

At last the older boy said, "I will turn into a saguaro, so that I shall live forever and bear fruit every summer."
Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest | Katharine Berry Judson
That is how the saguaro and the palo verde came to be on the mountains and the desert.
Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest | Katharine Berry Judson

British Dictionary definitions for saguaro

saguaro

sahuaro (səˈwɑːrəʊ)

/ (səˈɡwɑːrəʊ, səˈwɑː-) /

nounplural -ros

a giant cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, of desert regions of Arizona, S California, and Mexico, having white nocturnal flowers and edible red pulpy fruits

Origin of saguaro

Mexican Spanish, variant of sahuaro, an Indian name

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

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