alligator pear

See synonyms for alligator pear on Thesaurus.com

Origin of alligator pear

1
First recorded in 1755–65; alligator, alteration by folk etymology of Latin American Spanish (Mexico) aguacate ; with reference to the fruit's bumpy skin; see avocado

Words Nearby alligator pear

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alligator pear in a sentence

  • Alligator-pear salad—more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold—is offered to me.

    Bizarre | Lawton Mackall
  • It was like an alligator pear—and his complexion was like those cactus fruits that likewise infest fancy grocers' shops.

    Ptomaine Street | Carolyn Wells
  • Probably the man who would order "stewed tripe Spanish" wouldn't touch an alligator pear salad.

  • One large or two small heads of lettuce; four medium sized tomatoes; one alligator pear.

  • They have not the plantain, good 21 baked, nor the avocado or alligator pear, which fried in butter or oil is so admirable.

    The Art of Entertaining | M. E. W. Sherwood

British Dictionary definitions for alligator pear

alligator pear

noun
  1. another name for avocado

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012