1860–65, Americanism; < Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl tzictli
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
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chicle
gum that consists of the coagulated milky juice (latex) of the sapodilla, or naseberry, tree (Achras zapota), a tropical American fruit tree principally from Yucatan, Guatemala, and other regions of Central America. Chicle is obtained as pinkish to reddish brown pieces and is said to contain both rubber and gutta-percha. Introduced as a substitute for rubber, chicle was imported to the United States in quantity as the principal ingredient of chewing gum by about 1890, but in the 1940s it was largely replaced by synthetic products. The latex is collected by making deep intersecting zigzag cuts in the bark to a height of 10 m (30 feet) or more up the trunk. The "milk" runs slowly to a receptacle at the base
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