Helen Fenton

Agave: Definition and part of speech

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Agave

  1. n. A genus of plants (order Amaryllidaceae) of which the chief species is the maguey or century plant (A. 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.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.

Agate: Definition and part of speech

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Agate

  1. n. A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.; — so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
  2. adv. On the way; agoing; as, to be agate; to set the bells agate.
  3. n. A semipellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds.
  4. n. A kind of type, larger than pearl and smaller than nonpareil; in England called ruby.
  5. n. A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.