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saw palmetto

noun
  1. a shrublike palmetto, Serenoa repens, of the palm family, native to the southern U.S., having green or blue leafstalks set with spiny teeth.
  2. a tall palm, Acoelorraphe wrightii, of Florida and the West Indies.
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Origin of saw palmetto

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for saw palmetto

Historical Examples

  • Very well; now, break a fan from that saw-palmetto and sweep a place for me on the ground—that way.

    The Firing Line

    Robert W. Chambers

  • I put out my hand and felt the ragged edge of saw-palmetto, then slipped in behind him, moving scarcely more than a yard a minute.

    Wings of the Wind

    Credo Harris

  • The gobbler got back to land, and led us a fruitless chase into the thicket of saw-palmetto.

    Voyage of the Paper Canoe

    Nathaniel H. Bishop

British Dictionary definitions for saw palmetto

saw palmetto

noun
  1. any of several dwarf prickly palms, esp any of the genus Sabal, of the southeastern US
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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