Definitions

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

  • noun A cultivated agave (Agave sisalana) originally of Mexico and Central America, widely grown for its large, sword-shaped leaves that yield stiff fibers used for cordage and rope.
  • noun The fiber of this plant or of other agaves.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as Sisal hemp.

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

  • noun A Central American plant, of the genus Agave, cultivated for its sword-shaped leaves that yield fibers used for rope.
  • noun The fibre of the plant.
  • noun rare A sisal mat.

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

  • noun Mexican or West Indian plant with large fleshy leaves yielding a stiff fiber used in e.g. rope
  • noun a plant fiber used for making rope

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, after Sisal, a town of southeast Mexico in the Yucatán.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named after Sisal, Yucatán.

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Examples

Comments

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  • And hanging by a sisal twist over the darkling void lit by an electric blue flash, like mending the tram lines, you know that flash? - that's where the souls of smarties go...

    - Stevie Smith, Novel on Yellow Paper

    February 22, 2009