Word Meanings - PRAIRIE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains. From

Additional info about word: PRAIRIE

1. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains. From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the northland. Longfellow. 2. A meadow or tract of grass; especially, a so called natural meadow. Prairie chicken , any American grouse of the genus Tympanuchus, especially T. Americanus , which inhabits the prairies of the central United States. Applied also to the sharp-tailed grouse. -- Prairie clover , any plant of the leguminous genus Petalostemon, having small rosy or white flowers in dense terminal heads or spikes. Several species occur in the prairies of the United States. -- Prairie dock , a coarse composite plant (Silphium terebinthaceum) with large rough leaves and yellow flowers, found in the Western prairies. -- Prairie dog , a small American rodent (Cynomys Ludovicianus) allied to the marmots. It inhabits the plains west of the Mississippi. The prairie dogs burrow in the ground in large warrens, and have a sharp bark like that of a dog. Called also prairie marmot. -- Prairie grouse. Same as Prairie chicken, above. -- Prairie hare , a large long-eared Western hare (Lepus campestris). See Jack rabbit, under 2d Jack. -- Prairie hawk, Prairie falcon , a falcon of Western North America . The upper parts are brown. The tail has transverse bands of white; the under parts, longitudinal streaks and spots of brown. -- Prairie hen. Same as Prairie chicken, above. -- Prairie itch , an affection of the skin attended with intense itching, which is observed in the Northern and Western United States; -- also called swamp itch, winter itch. -- Prairie marmot. Same as Prairie dog, above. -- Prairie mole , a large American mole , native of the Western prairies. -- Prairie pigeon, plover, or snipe , the upland plover. See Plover, n., 2. -- Prairie rattlesnake , the massasauga. -- Prairie snake , a large harmless American snake . It is pale yellow, tinged with brown above. -- Prairie squirrel , any American ground squirrel of the genus Spermophilus, inhabiting prairies; -- called also gopher. -- Prairie turnip , the edible turnip-shaped farinaceous root of a leguminous plant of the Upper Missouri region; also, the plant itself. Called also pomme blanche, and pomme de prairie. -- Prairie warbler , a bright-colored American warbler . The back is olive yellow, with a group of reddish spots in the middle; the under parts and the parts around the eyes are bright yellow; the sides of the throat and spots along the sides, black; three outer tail feathers partly white. -- Prairie wolf. See Coyote.

Related words: (words related to PRAIRIE)

• COVER-POINT
  The fielder in the games of cricket and lacrosse who supports "point."
• VALLEY
  1. The space inclosed between ranges of hills or mountains; the strip of land at the bottom of the depressions intersecting a country, including usually the bed of a stream, with frequently broad alluvial plains on one or both sides of the stream.
• ROLLEY
  A small wagon used for the underground work of a mine. Tomlison.
• TRACTORATION
  See PERKINISM
• COARSE
  was anciently written course, or cours, it may be an abbreviation of of course, in the common manner of proceeding, common, and hence, homely, made for common domestic use, plain, rude, rough, gross, e. 1. Large in bulk, or composed of large parts
• COVERLET
  The uppermost cover of a bed or of any piece of furniture. Lay her in lilies and in violets . . . And odored sheets and arras coverlets. Spenser.
• ROLLABLE
  Capable of being rolled.
• ROLLING-PIN
  A cylindrical piece of wood or other material, with which paste or dough may be rolled out and reduced to a proper thickness.
• TRACTITE
  A Tractarian.
• ROLL
  To apply to another without slipping; to bring all the parts of into successive contact with another, in suck manner that at every instant the parts that have been in contact are equal. 10. To turn over in one's mind; to revolve. Full oft in
• GRASSLESS
  Destitute of grass.
• COVERCLE
  A small cover; a lid. Sir T. Browne.
• LEVELER
  1. One who, or that which, levels. 2. One who would remove social inequalities or distinctions; a socialist.
• LEVEL
  libella level, water level, a plumb level, dim. of libra pound, measure for liquids, balance, water poise, level. Cf. Librate, 1. A line or surface to which, at every point, a vertical or plumb line is perpendicular; a line or surface which is
• COARSELY
  In a coarse manner; roughly; rudely; inelegantly; uncivilly; meanly.
• TRACTARIANISM
  The principles of the Tractarians, or of those persons accepting the teachings of the "Tracts for the Times."
• COVERT BARON
  Under the protection of a husband; married. Burrill.
• EXTENSIVELY
  To a great extent; widely; largely; as, a story is extensively circulated.
• GRASSPLOT
  A plot or space covered with grass; a lawn. "Here on this grassplot." Shak.
• COVERTNESS
  Secrecy; privacy.
• ALEPPO GRASS
  One of the cultivated forms of Andropogon Halepensis (syn. Sorghum Halepense). See Andropogon, below.
• INTRACTABILITY
  The quality of being intractable; intractableness. Bp. Hurd.
• TROLLEY; TROLLY
  A form of truck which can be tilted, for carrying railroad materials, or the like. A narrow cart that is pushed by hand or drawn by an animal. A truck from which the load is suspended in some kinds of cranes. A truck which travels along the fixed
• RECOVER
  To cover again. Sir W. Scott.
• SEA LEVEL
  The level of the surface of the sea; any surface on the same level with the sea.
• SUBCONTRACTOR
  One who takes a portion of a contract, as for work, from the principal contractor.
• RETRACTOR
  One who, or that which, retracts. Specifically: In breech-loading firearms, a device for withdrawing a cartridge shell from the barrel.
• CONTROLLABLENESS
  Capability of being controlled.
• DETRACTIVE
  1. Tending to detractor draw. 2. Tending to lower in estimation; depreciative.
• CONTRACTIBLE
  Capable of contraction. Small air bladders distable and contractible. Arbuthnot.
• WATER GRASS
  The water cress. (more info) A tall march perennial grass of the southern United States and the American tropics. Manna grass. The grass Chloris elegans. Velvet grass.