Definitions

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

  • noun Any of several spiny, shrubby or treelike opuntias having cylindrical stem segments.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the Southwestern United States and Mexico, a name given to several species of Opuntia with stout cylindrical joints and abundant spines, such as O. prolifera, O. Bigelovii, and O. Cholla.

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

  • noun Any of several species of cactus in the genus Cylindropuntia, having very spiny, cylindrical stem segments.

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

  • noun arborescent cacti having very spiny cylindrical stem segments; southwestern United States and Mexico

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, from obsolete Spanish, upper part of the head, possibly from Old French cholle, round lump, head, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Spanish.

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Examples

  • Cane cactus (Opuntia arborescens) — Cane or whip cactus (also known as cholla, candelabrum cactus, prickly pear, etc.) is scattered over the entire Chaco area.

    Tseh So, a Small House Ruin, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico : 1937

  • Residential development on bajadas is eliminating the habitat of bajadas-dependent species such as cholla cacti (Opuntia) and columnar cacti such as saguaro.

    Sonoran desert 2009

  • Amidst cholla and saguaro and sun-blistered projections of rock so bleak they might have confounded the Buddha himself.

    The Silence 2010

  • Amidst cholla and saguaro and sun-blistered projections of rock so bleak they might have confounded the Buddha himself.

    The Silence 2010

  • Amidst cholla and saguaro and sun-blistered projections of rock so bleak they might have confounded the Buddha himself.

    The Silence 2010

  • With extreme cold, a cholla cactus in Santa Fe can turn from bright summer green to deep red.

    Subhankar Banerjee: Extreme Weather Report From Home: The Thong Will Drop Subhankar Banerjee 2011

  • I will your presence with songs like apples in a basket of straw, whispered dreams like rainfall on flowers, on cholla, on deserts, on the hungering sand.

    The High Sonora - a sonata in four movements James Lloyd Davis 2011

  • Marrow like lace, piece of a skull, upturned cup, fingerbones scattered like corn and ribs interlaced like cholla.

    Pony Positive Day Two rabid1st 2009

  • I will your presence with songs like apples in a basket of straw, whispered dreams like rainfall on flowers, on cholla, on deserts, on the hungering sand.

    The High Sonora - a sonata in four movements James Lloyd Davis 2011

  • With extreme cold, a cholla cactus in Santa Fe can turn from bright summer green to deep red.

    Subhankar Banerjee: Extreme Weather Report From Home: The Thong Will Drop Subhankar Banerjee 2011

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