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alfalfa

[ al-fal-fuh ]

noun

  1. a plant, Medicago sativa, of the legume family, usually having bluish-purple flowers, originating in western Asia and widely cultivated as a forage crop.


alfalfa

/ ælˈfælfə /

noun

  1. a leguminous plant, Medicago sativa, of Europe and Asia, having compound leaves with three leaflets and clusters of small purplish flowers. It is widely cultivated for forage and as a nitrogen fixer and used as a commercial source of chlorophyll Also calledlucerne


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Word History and Origins

Origin of alfalfa1

First recorded in 1835–45; from Spanish, variant of alfalfez, from Spanish Arabic al “the” + faṣfaṣah from Persian ispist “lucerne”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of alfalfa1

C19: from Spanish, from Arabic al-fasfasah, from al the + fasfasah the best sort of fodder

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Example Sentences

The Alfalfa Club dinner crowd in tiaras was the order of the night.

A small flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, known as alfalfa.

They will concentrate instead on farming their 1,900 acres of alfalfa, 1,600 acres of corn, and 1,400 acres of soybeans.

He was presented with a special Alfalfa medallion for a lifetime of civility, good cheer, and good fellowship.

They grew up as crop and dairy farmers in Iowa, tending corn, soy, alfalfa, hay, oats and clover.

I'll try alfalfa in that field next and then I'll rub Aladdin's lamp.

Alfalfa, al-fal′fa, n. a Spanish name for a variety of lucerne—used also in some parts of the United States.

After three o'clock I sat here in a cool room by an open window watching Papa mow alfalfa and the men stack grain.

Here he owns two hundred acres of alfalfa land and he is also engaged quite extensively in dairying and in fruit raising.

Four ploughs were kept steadily at work, and the ground was sown with alfalfa or lucern, as fast as it was got into condition.

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Alfaalfalfa butterfly