Definitions

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

  • noun A small, usually water-filled depression in rock in a desert or dry area.
  • noun A usually large earthenware jar or pot mainly used for storing water and other liquids.

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

  • noun a small pool in a rocky hollow

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, from Spanish large earthenware jar, from Old Spanish, from Vulgar Latin *tīnacula, diminutive of Latin tīna, wine jar, of unknown origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish tinaja.

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Examples

  • The narrow defile up which we were passing is called, according to Mateo, el Barranco de la tinaja, or the ravine of the jar, because a jar full of Moorish gold was found here in old times.

    The Alhambra 2002

  • The narrow defile up which we were passing is called, according to Mateo, el Barranco de la tinaja, or the ravine of the jar, because a jar full of Moorish gold was found here in old times.

    The Alhambra 2002

  • Were it not for that jar or _tinaja_ of _aguardiente_ which the old man keeps so snugly in the corner of his burrow, he would have withered up long ago, like the mummies of the Great Saint Bernard.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 30, April, 1860 Various

  • They rarely consist of more than one or two hide-covered chairs, a rickety table, and two or three long benches placed against the wall, with a _tinaja_ or jar for water in the corner, and possibly a clay oven or rude contrivance for cooking under the back corridor.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 33, July, 1860 Various

  • There was a _tinaja_, or earthenware jar, holding about twenty gallons of water, and a dipper made of a polished cocoanut shell.

    A Woman's Impression of the Philippines Mary Helen Fee

  • If placed dry in the _tinaja_ jars (Tagálog, _Tapayan_), containing cacao-beans, the insects will not attack the beans.

    The Philippine Islands John Foreman

  • I poured water over my body till the contents of the tinaja were exhausted and I was cool.

    A Woman's Impression of the Philippines Mary Helen Fee

  • Barbara took an empty _tinaja_ and said she would go for more water.

    Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories Florence Finch Kelly 1898

  • She dropped the _tinaja_ beside the house and walked swiftly -- she feared to run lest she might attract attention -- to the edge of the precipice.

    Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories Florence Finch Kelly 1898

  • As he stopped his horse Barbara came up the street, her _tinaja_ poised on her head.

    Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories Florence Finch Kelly 1898

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