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chaparral
6 dictionary results for: Chaparral
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
chap·ar·ral       [shap-uh-ral, chap-] Pronunciation Key
–noun Southwestern U.S.
a dense growth of shrubs or small trees.
[Origin: 1835–45, Americanism; < Sp, equiv. to chaparr(o) evergreen oak (< Basque tshapar) + -al collective suffix]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chap·ar·ral       (shāp'ə-rāl')  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. Ecology A biome characterized by hot dry summers and cool moist winters and dominated by a dense growth of mostly small-leaved evergreen shrubs, as that found in the foothills of California.
  2. A dense thicket of shrubs and small trees.


[Spanish, from chaparro, evergreen oak, from Basque txapar, diminutive of saphar, thicket.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chaparral 
1850, Amer.Eng., from Sp. chaparro "evergreen oak," perhaps from Basque txapar.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
chaparral

noun
dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes [syn: scrub] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Chaparral, NM (CDP, FIPS 14250) Location: 32.02593 N, 106.39946 W
Population (1990): 2962 (1020 housing units)
Area: 14.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 88021

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chaparral

Cha`par*ral"\, n. [Sp., fr. chaparro an evergeen oak.]

1. A thicket of low evergreen oaks.

2. An almost impenetrable thicket or succession of thickets of thorny shrubs and brambles.

Chaparral cock; fem. Chaparral hen (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the cuckoo family (Geococcyx Californianus), noted for running with great speed. It ranges from California to Mexico and eastward to Texas; -- called also road runner, ground cuckoo, churea, and snake killer .

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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