Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A southwest Asian perennial herb (Medicago sativa) having compound leaves with three leaflets and clusters of usually blue-violet flowers. It is widely cultivated as a pasture and hay crop.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The Spanish name of lucerne, Medicago sativa, and the common name under which the chief varieties of lucerne are known in the western United States.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable A plant, Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.
- n. countable A type or breed of this plant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) The lucern (Medicago sativa), a leguminous plant having bluish purple cloverlike flowers, and cultivated for fodder; -- so called in California, Texas, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- n. important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
- n. leguminous plant grown for hay or forage
Etymologies
- From Spanish alfalfez, from Arabic الفصفصة (al-fíṣfiṣa, al-fáṣfaṣa, "fresh fodder"), from Persian اسپست (espest, aspest), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭮𐭯𐭮𐭲 (aspast). (Wiktionary)
- Spanish, from Arabic al-faṣfaṣa : al-, the + faṣfaṣa, alfalfa (variant of fiṣfiṣa, from Persian aspist, clover). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It will probably be news to most readers that alfalfa -- the wonderful forage crop of the West, the producer of more gold than all the mines of the Klondike -- was in use so long ago, for the impression is pretty general that it is comparatively new; the fact is that it is older than the Christian era and that the name alfalfa comes from the Arabic and means "the best crop.”
“It will probably be news to most readers that alfalfa ” the wonderful forage crop of the West, the producer of more gold than all the mines of the Klondike ” was in use so long ago, for the impression is pretty general that it is comparatively new; the fact is that it is older than the Christian era and that the name alfalfa comes from the Arabic and means “the best crop.””
“There are several food plot seeds that are perennial, alfalfa is perennial.”
“Riparian corridors along river bottoms may hold lots of whitetails, which raid nearby farmland planted in alfalfa, sunflower, soybeans and corn.”
“In related out these video clips of Ruth Rogan Benerito, "pioneer in alfalfa breeding and genetics", and Janice M. Miller, who discovered the virus causing bovine leukemia, from their induction into the Agricultural Research Service Hall of Fame.”
“SMN - its called alfalfa only as far as I know...you'll find it in the greens / sprouts section of your supermarket - the wikipedia link will show you pictures of the sprouts.”
“Beds that you find in alfalfa and clover fields, abandoned orchards, oak flats, and other prime open feeding areas were made after dark.”
“The company said the recalled alfalfa sprouts were sold in plastic cups and plastic bags under the Caldwell Fresh Foods brand, plastic cups under the Nature's Choice brand and plastic containers under the California Fresh Exotics brand.”
The Huffington Post: Alfalfa Sprouts Recall In 18 States: Salmonella Sickens 23
“A California company is recalling alfalfa sprouts after 22 people in 10 states became sickened with Salmonella Newport.”
Consumer Reports: Sprouts recalled after 22 sickened by salmonella
“Cake is a pressed or compacted feed of grains or in this case, alfalfa, which is high in protein and energy.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alfalfa’.
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Ponderable Plant Names
List of plant names (common or scientific) that go trippingly off the tongue, are fun to contemplate, expose the wit of the namer, or just plain befuddle.
tongueshape mudmi..., glandular maiden ..., jeweled maiden fern, stately maiden fern, hairy maiden fern, downy maiden fern, widespread maiden..., turkey tangle fog..., yankeeweed, clitoria fragrans, clitoria mariana, tall tumblemustard and 261 more...
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Palabras con una sola vocal
Lista de palabras en español que tienen una sóla vocal y con más de tres sÃlabas.
imprimir, horóscopo, palabras, odontólogo, entender, acababa, abracadabra, joropo, encender, apagar, endeble, neceser and 244 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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AGRI - apiculture
acacia, alfalfa, Arbutus unedo, ash content, baker's honey, Banksia menziesii, bee plant, Bell heather, blackberry honey, blend of honeys, blossom honey, borage and 183 more...
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Reduples
Go for it, brothers and sisters! I personally have been suffering long for lack of an open reduplicatives list
happy clappy, bribble-brabble, diddle-daddle, hugger-mugger, kikiriki, Bora-Bora, mahi-mahi, jingle-jangle, knick-knack paddy..., chit-chat, bon-bon, clapperclaw and 292 more...
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AGRI - horse breeding
driving, implement, Trot, speed, exhale, dope, obstacle, tail, plow, coloration, para, weaving and 678 more...
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AGRI - crops/fruits/vegetables
Crops, fruits and vegetables + plant growing terms
agricultural crop, agricultural product, cranberry, mulberry, oil seed crops, protein crops, rain-fed agriculture, set-aside, soft fruit, drainage, cereals, cold storage house and 96 more...
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AGRI - animal health
Herod premium, beef consumption, time hung between..., checks on feed, optimal feeding p..., intensive farming, protein-rich feed..., concentrated feed, grass-fed beef ca..., grass silage, farm-animal feed, incorporation pre... and 156 more...
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Loanwords,Arabic
Everbody knows where 'hazard' came from,More Arabic Words?
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorithm, alidade, alizarin and 15 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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Things from my memory
nigger baby, mexican jumping bean, puddle jumper, mood ring, pet rock, cat scratch fever, taxman, hippie, vaseline, argyrol, mercurchrome, methiolade and 655 more...
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thing
apron, lard, clove, camphor, alfalfa, amber, caraway, juniper, kohl, lute, shale, glyph and 142 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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And the last first
Words with the first three or more letters repeated at the end, unless all letters are repeated (for those, see Isograms of lengths six, eight and ten). Overlaps are okay (alfalfa, entente), but wo...
nonphenomenon, underground, bicubic, ionization, microcosmic, nicotinic, interpoint, hotshot, atectate, ingesting, anemovane, physiography and 130 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for alfalfa.
Wordplayer And, according to the Twitter links to the right, alfalfa relieves constipation. Nov 23, 2011
Wordplayer Alfalfa must have a lot of good reputation as a wordplaying word. Nov 23, 2011
bilby You're more likely to die of hysteria than listeria, sport. Nov 22, 2011
rlvoyer Watch out for listeria and salmonella. Nov 22, 2011
mollusque Alfalfa and entente are apparently the only seven English letter words where the first four letters are the same as the last four letters. Jun 23, 2009
oroboros According to Chris Cole in Wordplay, the longest common word from the middle row of a typewriter. May 31, 2008
frangarnes mielga común que se cultiva para forraje Oct 23, 2007