from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun Any of numerous plants of the genus Agave, native to hot, dry regions of the Americas and having basal rosettes of tough, usually spiny-margined leaves. Agaves are grown for ornament, fiber, and food.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun A large North American genus of plants, of the natural order Amaryllidaceæ, chiefly Mexican.
noun [lowercase] A plant of this genus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun (bot.) A genus of plants (order Amaryllidaceæ) of which the chief species is the maguey or century plant (Agave Americana), wrongly called Aloe. It is from ten to seventy years, according to climate, in attaining maturity, when it produces a gigantic flower stem, sometimes forty feet in height, and perishes. The fermented juice is the pulque of the Mexicans; distilled, it yields mescal. A strong thread and a tough paper are made from the leaves, and the wood has many uses.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun A plant of the genus Agave which includes the maguey or century plant. Attaining maturity, it produces a gigantic flower stem.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes; some cultivated for ornament or for fiber
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[New Latin Agavē, genus name, from Greek agauē, feminine of agauos, noble.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ancient Greek Ἀγαυή (Agauē, "Agave"), from ἀγαυός (agauos, "noble, illustrious").
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Examples
Although the process varies from distiller to distiller, the basics are pretty much the same: first the agave is allowed to grow for ten years.
Contrary to popular belief, the agave is not a member of the cactus family, but rather comprises its own distinct botanical family, agavaceae, related to the lily.
Contrary to popular belief, the agave is not a member of the cactus family, but rather comprises its own distinct botanical family, agavaceae, related to the lily.
Contrary to popular belief, the agave is not a member of the cactus family, but rather comprises its own distinct botanical family, agavaceae, related to the lily.
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