Mexican War

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

• noun A war (1846–1848) between the United States and Mexico, resulting in the cession by Mexico of lands now constituting all or most of the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.

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

• noun after disputes over Texas lands that were settled by Mexicans the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846 and by treaty in 1848 took Texas and California and Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada and Utah and part of Colorado and paid Mexico $15,000,000