vara

American  

[vahr-uh, vah-rah, vah-ruh] / ˈvɑr ə, ˈvɑ rɑ, ˈvɑ rə /

noun

• varas
  plural

1. a unit of length in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, varying from about 32 inches (81 centimeters) to about 43 inches (109 centimeters).

2. the square vara, used as a unit of area.

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vara British  

/ ˈvɑːrə /

noun

1. a unit of length used in Spain, Portugal, and South America and having different values in different localities, usually between 32 and 43 inches (about 80 to 108 centimetres)

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• varas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of vara

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Spanish, from Latin vāra “forked pole,” noun use of feminine of vārus “crooked, bent”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vara varas

When you put it all together, “en vara asado” sounds a lot like “embarazado.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2021

On the assumption that the Spanish vara equaled a yard, and that an average city block measures 300 feet on a side, the village of Chischa would have covered eight city blocks.

From The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California by Sherburne F. Cook

The hand deviates to the side on which the growth has been arrested—manus valga or vara.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles

The upper end of the bone shows the condition of coxa vara; the lower end shows enlargement of the medial condyle and alteration in the axis of the articular surface.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles

Partial separations may be overlooked at the time of the accident and cause trouble later from bending of the bone, as in one variety of coxa vara.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles

Other pieces of common silk, ten varas for one tae three maçes.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55 1620-1621 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century. by James Alexander Robertson

Now they measure by varas, and it is very cheap at one real per vara.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55 1629-30 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century. by James Alexander Robertson

I followed through the tule swamp and after going a little way I met three armed Indians at a distance of about one hundred long varas.

From Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820 Anthropological Records 16(6):239-292, 1958 by Sherburne Friend Cook

From one point to the other the depth of the water is four varas, becoming shallower to two, when one sails close to the shore.

From The Aboriginal Population of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California by Sherburne Friend Cook

Over ten varas high, thirty broad and forty long: or he should say, being a man of the States now for many years, roughly thirty feet by seventy-five by a hundred.

From The Enormous Room by Horace Leonard Gold

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