Definitions

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

  • noun A spineless, dome-shaped cactus (Lophophora williamsii) native to Mexico and the southwest United States, having buttonlike tubercles that contain the hallucinogen mescaline and are traditionally used in rituals by certain Native American peoples.
  • noun Peyote buttons.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name applied in certain parts of Mexico to several low, fleshy, spineless plants, especially to Lophophora Williamsii, which is used medicinally and has narcotic properties. Also written pellotè. See mescal-buttons.

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

  • noun A small, spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii) found from southwest United States to central Mexico that produces buttonlike tubercles that can be chewed for its psychedelic effect, primarily from the drug mescaline. Also called mescal.
  • noun A mescal button produced by the plant.

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

  • noun the hallucinatory alkaloid that is the active agent in mescal buttons
  • noun a small spineless globe-shaped cactus; source of mescal buttons

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, from Nahuatl peyotl, caterpillar cocoon, peyote (because the tufts of woolly hair in the center of its tubercles resemble caterpillar cocoons).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish, from Classical Nahuatl peyotl.

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