From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Maguey \Mag"uey\, n. [Sp. maguey, Mexican maguei and metl.]
(Bot.)
Any of several species of {Agave}, such as the {century
plant} ({Agave Americana}), a plant requiring many years to
come to maturity and blossoming only once before dying; and
the {Agave atrovirens}, a Mexican plant used especially for
making {pulque}, the source of the colorless Mexican liquor
{mescal}; and the {cantala} ({Agave cantala}), a Philippine
plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine. See
{Agave}.
[1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]
2. A hard fibre used in making coarse twine, derived from the
Philippine Agave cantala ({Agave cantala}); also called
{cantala}.
[WordNet 1.5]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Mescal \Mes*cal"\, n. [Sp.]
A distilled liquor prepared in Mexico from a species of
agave. See {Agave}.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Agave \A*ga"ve\ ([.a]*g[=a]"v[-e]), prop. n. [L. Agave, prop.
name, fr. Gr. 'agayh`, fem. of 'agayo`s illustrious, noble.]
(Bot.)
A genus of plants (order {Amaryllidaceae}) of which the chief
species is the maguey or century plant ({Agave Americana}),
wrongly called Aloe. It takes from ten to seventy years,
according to climate, to attain maturity, when it produces a
gigantic flower stem, sometimes forty feet in height, and
perishes. The juice has purgative and diuretic properties.
The fermented juice is the {pulque} of the Mexicans;
distilled, it yields {mescal}. A strong thread and a tough
paper are made from the leaves, and the wood has many uses.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
mescal
n 1: a small spineless globe-shaped cactus; source of mescal
buttons [syn: {mescal}, {mezcal}, {peyote}, {Lophophora
williamsii}]
2: a colorless Mexican liquor distilled from fermented juices of
certain desert plants of the genus Agavaceae (especially the
century plant)
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