prairie

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“
Signaling to his sergeant to keep the column opened out, as the prairie was almost level now on every side, he rode swiftly on, revolving in his mind how to meet and checkmate Burleigh's insidious moves, for instinctively he felt he was already at work.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun An extensive area of flat or rolling, predominantly treeless grassland, especially the large tract or plain of central North America.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples

  • The decision of a hasty council of war was, that a defensive stand would be useless, as the Indians outnumbered the whites ten to one, and red reinforcements were constantly coming up, until it seemed to Will as if the prairie were alive with them. —  Last of the Great Scouts The Life Story of William F Cody
  • Now, however, the amaranth fields had caused them to see that the prairie was also useful land, which they needed to control. —  Speaker for the Dead
  • Guiding pilgrims across the prairie was a task little to his liking, but their first guide, Zeke McLeary, was a friend and when 7. eke broke his leg and couldn 'tcontinue, Matt had agreed to take the Miller train west. —  Temptation's Price
  • Signaling to his sergeant to keep the column opened out, as the prairie was almost level now on every side, he rode swiftly on, revolving in his mind how to meet and checkmate Burleigh's insidious moves, for instinctively he felt he was already at work. —  Warrior Gap A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68.
  • a word, Peruvian in origin, designating the prairies of South America; while prairie is a French word, meaning meadow. —  A Hero and Some Other Folks
 

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Words tagged prairie

bottlebrush · bristlegrass · broom sedge · buffalo grass · wild rye · sweet grass · switch grass · cord grass · sand dropseed · poverty grass · needle grass · beakgrain · harestail · threeflower · rip gut · threeawn

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Prairie has been looked up 769 times, favorited once, listed 20 times, and commented on once.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Old French praierie, from Vulgar Latin *prātāria, from Latin prāta, meadow.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French prairie = Provencal pradaria = Spanish pradera, praderia = Portuguese pradaria = Italian prateria, a meadow, from Middle Latin prataria, meadowland, properly feminine of pratarius, adjective, from Latin pratum, a meadow. Cf. prayere, prayell.
 

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/ˈpreɪri/
by American Heritage

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