Definitions

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

  • noun A small evergreen holly tree (Ilex vomitoria) chiefly of the southeast United States, having red or sometimes yellow fruit and glossy leaves formerly used to make a bitter tea.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as yapon.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A shrub (Ilex Cassine) of the Holly family, native from Virginia to Florida. The smooth elliptical leaves are used as a substitute for tea, and were formerly used in preparing the black drink of the Indians of North Carolina. Called also South-Sea tea.

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

  • noun The yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria, an evergreen holly shrub with white flowers and red or yellow berries, found in the southeastern United States.
  • noun A tea-like drink, "black drink", brewed from the leaves of this holly (or, sometimes, Ilex cassine).

Etymologies

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

[Catawba yã´pã.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Catawba yąpą, from (wood, tree) + pą (leaf).

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Examples

Comments

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  • cf. black drink, holly

    January 12, 2009

  • "There was a grunting somewhere near; a small pig burst out of a patch of yaupon and crossed his path, heading to the left."

    —Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 1062

    January 29, 2010