| 1. | the region in the S central U.S. that suffered from dust storms in the 1930s. |
| 2. | (lowercase ) any similar dry region elsewhere. |
| dust bowl n. A region reduced to aridity by drought and dust storms. [After the Dust Bowl, region in the south-central US that was stricken with drought in the 1930s.] |
A parched region of the Great Plains, including parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, where a combination of drought and soil erosion created enormous dust storms in the 1930s. The novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, describes the plight of the “Okies” and “Arkies” uprooted by the drought and forced to migrate to California.