Definitions

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

  • noun A Mexican liquor distilled from the fermented sap of certain agaves.
  • noun A food prepared by cooking the large young flowering stalk of certain agaves.
  • noun An agave, especially one used for producing food or beverages.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A strong intoxicating spirit distilled from pulque, the fermented juice of the Agave Americana of Mexico. Also mexcal, mezcal.

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

  • noun A distilled liquor prepared in Mexico from a species of agave. See agave.

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

  • noun A Mexican alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented juice of the agave.
  • noun The peyote cactus.

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

  • noun a small spineless globe-shaped cactus; source of mescal buttons
  • noun a colorless Mexican liquor distilled from fermented juices of certain desert plants of the genus Agavaceae (especially the century plant)

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, from Nahuatl mexcalli, mescal liquor : metl, maguey plant + perhaps ixca, xca, to bake.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Nahuatl or Classical Nahuatl mexcalli ("itoxicating drink made from fermented agave juice"), perhaps from metl ("maguey (agave)") + ixcalli ("stew").

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Examples

  • Then again, I had to give up drinking altogether when I saw the worm in mescal; even though it was dead, it stared balefully at me.

    Say Bartender, make mine tuna on the rocks 2007

  • Then again, I had to give up drinking altogether when I saw the worm in mescal; even though it was dead, it stared balefully at me.

    Say Bartender, make mine tuna on the rocks 2007

  • Mezcal, or more usually (in English) mescal, is an alcoholic drink derived from various types of agave, as opposed to tequila which is, strictly speaking, made only from the blue agave.

    The Oaxaca Valley: a week's adventures in a single day... 2005

  • A late afternoon toast in mescal may seem to many visitors like a fair and just reward for a long day's sightseeing, but please ensure that those doing the mescal sampling are not those responsible for driving you back to the city ...

    The Oaxaca Valley: a week's adventures in a single day... 2005

  • Mezcal, or more usually (in English) mescal, is an alcoholic drink derived from various types of agave, as opposed to tequila which is, strictly speaking, made only from the blue agave.

    The Oaxaca Valley: a week's adventures in a single day... 2005

  • A late afternoon toast in mescal may seem to many visitors like a fair and just reward for a long day's sightseeing, but please ensure that those doing the mescal sampling are not those responsible for driving you back to the city ...

    The Oaxaca Valley: a week's adventures in a single day... 2005

  • So far this year, I have imbibed on raicilla (not bad - made in the nearby jungle) on the beach at Yelapa, mescal from a community shot glass at a fiesta in Teotitlan del Valle outside of Oaxaca City and some mighty fine double martinis on the River Walk in San Antonio.

    The Subject of Mescal 2004

  • So far this year, I have imbibed on raicilla (not bad - made in the nearby jungle) on the beach at Yelapa, mescal from a community shot glass at a fiesta in Teotitlan del Valle outside of Oaxaca City and some mighty fine double martinis on the River Walk in San Antonio.

    The Subject of Mescal 2004

  • So far this year, I have imbibed on raicilla (not bad - made in the nearby jungle) on the beach at Yelapa, mescal from a community shot glass at a fiesta in Teotitlan del Valle outside of Oaxaca City and some mighty fine double martinis on the River Walk in San Antonio.

    The Subject of Mescal 2004

  • So far this year, I have imbibed on raicilla (not bad - made in the nearby jungle) on the beach at Yelapa, mescal from a community shot glass at a fiesta in Teotitlan del Valle outside of Oaxaca City and some mighty fine double martinis on the River Walk in San Antonio.

    The Subject of Mescal 2004

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