Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several large agaves of Mexico, such as Agave americana, that are used as a source of fiber, food, and sap, from which pulque is made.
  • noun The fiber obtained from any of these plants or from closely related plants of the genus Furcraea.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The American aloe, Agave americana.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) Any of several species of Agave, such as the century plant (Agave Americana), a plant requiring many years to come to maturity and blossoming only once before dying; and the Agave atrovirens, a Mexican plant used especially for making pulque, the source of the colorless Mexican liquor mescal; and the cantala (Agave cantala), a Philippine plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine. See agave.
  • noun A hard fibre used in making coarse twine, derived from the Philippine Agave cantala (Agave cantala); also called cantala.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various large agaves of Mexico and the southern US, especially the American aloe, Agave americana.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun Philippine plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine
  • noun Mexican plant used especially for making pulque which is the source of the colorless Mexican liquor, mescal

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, of Cariban origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish maguey, from Taino maguey.

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Examples

  • At all events, the maguey is a source of unfailing profit, the consumption of pulque being enormous, so that many of the richest families in the capital owe their fortune entirely to the produce of their magueys.

    Life in Mexico, During a Residence of Two Years in That Country Frances Erskine Inglis 1843

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

  • The Americanized name for maguey is century plant, and they are pretty common in the Southwest.

    Alb�ndigas Soup 2009

Comments

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  • "The shy mimosa opened at his glance; the spiky maguey drooped at his touch, its barbs turned soft and pliant."

    -Tintin in the New World by Frederic Tuten, p 237

    July 11, 2008