Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various evergreen plants of the genera Yucca and Hesperoyucca of the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America, having stiff sword-shaped leaves, clusters of white flowers, and sometimes a thick treelike stem.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The name given in western South America to Manihot Aipi (see Manioc). The latter name is not known in Peru and Chile or Bolivia, only ‘yuca’ being used. It is extensively consumed as a vegetable. The name is also common throughout Central America.
  • noun A plant of the genus Yucca.
  • noun [capitalized] [NL. (Dillenius, 1719).] A genus of liliaceous plants, of the tribe Dracæneæ.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) See flicker, n., 2.
  • noun (Bot.) A genus of American liliaceous, sometimes arborescent, plants having long, pointed, and often rigid, leaves at the top of a more or less woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy white blossoms.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a small silvery moth (Pronuba yuccasella) whose larvæ feed on plants of the genus Yucca.

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

  • noun Any of several evergreen plants, of the genus Yucca, having long, pointed, and rigid leaves at the top of a woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy white blossoms.

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

  • noun any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca having usually tall stout stems and a terminal cluster of white flowers; warmer regions of North America

Etymologies

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

[From New Latin Yucca, genus name, from Spanish yuca, cassava, from Taíno.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Variant of yuca, from Galibi Carib yuca ("cassava"), because Linnaeus and others confused it with that plant.

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Examples

  • There are two kinds of the yucca or manioc-root, -- the _yucca dulce_, and

    Popular Adventure Tales Mayne Reid 1850

  • There are two kinds of the yucca or manioc-root, -- the _yucca dulce_, and

    The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon Mayne Reid 1850

  • Use: The yucca is an adaptable desert-dweller that makes an attractive feature plant in many types of gardens.

    Triangle palm, yucca and thunbergia: ornamental plants and flowers of tropical Mexico 2008

  • He made them out of the stems of a plant called yucca; but he had to go a long way to get these plants.

    The Hunter Cats of Connorloa Helen Hunt Jackson 1857

  • The leaves were more like those of the yucca than the aloe -- indeed, so like the yucca was the whole tree, that, from what I afterwards saw of yucca-trees in Mexico and South America, I am convinced that these are very near the same kind -- that is, they were of the same habit and family, though, as I also learned afterwards, esteemed different by botanists.

    Ran Away to Sea Mayne Reid 1850

  • The root of the cassava plant — sometimes called yucca or manioc — is a food staple in much of the world.

    Scientific American 2010

  • Also widely known as yucca, the crop can thrive in poor conditions and is drought-resistant.

    Spero News 2010

  • The root of the cassava plant — sometimes called yucca or manioc — is a food staple in much of the world.

    Scientific American 2010

  • Desert bighorns live in dry, rugged, mountainous terrain, and eat seasonally available plants such as yucca, prickly pear and wild onions.

    Bighorn Sheep Get A New Home In Texas AP 2010

  • Desert bighorns live in dry, rugged, mountainous terrain, and eat seasonally available plants such as yucca, prickly pear and wild onions.

    Bighorn Sheep Get A New Home In Texas AP 2010

Comments

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  • And fried yucca = delicious.

    August 16, 2009

  • Which yucca?

    August 16, 2009