texas

¹ American  

[tek-suhs] / ˈtɛk səs /

noun

U.S. Nautical.

1. a deckhouse on a texas deck for the accommodation of officers.

2. texas deck.

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Texas ² American  

[tek-suhs] / ˈtɛk səs /

noun

1. a state in the southern United States. 267,339 sq. mi. (692,410 sq. km). Austin. TX (for use with zip code), Tex.

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Texas British  

/ ˈtɛksəs /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Tex.   TX.  a state of the southwestern US, on the Gulf of Mexico: the second largest state; part of Mexico from 1821 to 1836, when it was declared an independent republic; joined the US in 1845; consists chiefly of a plain, with a wide flat coastal belt rising up to the semiarid Sacramento and Davis Mountains of the southwest; a major producer of cotton, rice, and livestock; the chief US producer of oil and gas; a leading world supplier of sulphur. Capital: Austin. Pop: 22 118 509 (2003 est). Area: 678 927 sq km (262 134 sq miles)

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Texas Cultural  

1. State in the southwestern United States bordered by Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas and Louisiana to the east, the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to the south, and New Mexico to the west. Its capital is Austin, and its largest city is Houston.

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Discover More

One of the border states with Mexico; Mexican aliens often cross the border into Texas.

One of the Confederate states during the Civil War.

Long the largest state, it became second largest with the admission of Alaska as the forty-ninth state in 1959.

Other Word Forms

• Texan adjective
• Texian adjective

Etymology

Origin of texas

1855–60; after Texas, from the fact that the officers' accommodation was the most spacious on the Mississippi steamboats, on which cabins were named after states

Example Sentences

Barrera declined to share the letter with The Texas Tribune because it was sent as a confidential lawyer-to-lawyer communication and he did not want to break state bar rules, he said.

From Salon

At The Texas Tribune Festival in November, Gonzales addressed the allegations for the first time, saying the “rumors are completely untruthful.”

From Salon

Early voting is underway in Texas, and some primary races are only getting more peculiar.

From Slate

On his broadcast Monday, CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert explained to his audience that he was supposed to air an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico but had been told by his network’s lawyers, “in no uncertain terms,” that he couldn’t air it.

From Slate

Among the more competitive House primaries in Texas is a rematch between GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales and Brandon Herrera, aka “the AK Guy.”

From Slate