spanish : Idioms & Phrases

Index

battle of the spanish armada

  • noun in the English Channel a small fleet of British ships successfully defeated the large armada sent from Spain by Philip II to invade England
WordNet

judeo-spanish

  • noun the Spanish dialect spoken by Sephardic Jews but written in the Hebrew script
    Ladino.
WordNet

mexican spanish

  • noun the dialect of Spanish spoken in Mexico
WordNet

spanish american

  • noun an American whose first language is Spanish
    Hispanic; Hispanic American.
WordNet

spanish armada

  • noun the great fleet sent from Spain against England by Philip II in 1588
    Invincible Armada.
WordNet

Spanish bayonet

  • noun tall yucca of the southwestern United States and Mexico having a woody stem and stiff swordlike pointed leaves and a large cluster of white flowers
    Yucca baccata.
  • noun a stiff yucca with a short trunk; found in the southern United States and tropical America; has rigid spine-tipped leaves and clusters of white flowers
    Yucca aloifolia.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), a liliaceous plant (Yucca alorifolia) with rigid spine-tipped leaves. The name is also applied to other similar plants of the Southwestern United States and mexico. Called also Spanish daggers.
Webster 1913

Spanish bean

  • (Bot.) See the Note under Bean.
Webster 1913

Spanish black

  • a black pigment obtained by charring cork. Ure.
Webster 1913

Spanish broom

  • noun tall thornless shrub having pale yellow flowers and flexible rushlike twigs used in basketry; of southwestern Europe and Mediterranean; naturalized in California
    weaver's broom; Spartium junceum.
  • noun erect shrub of southwestern Europe having racemes of golden yellow flowers
    Spanish broom; Genista hispanica.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), a leguminous shrub (Spartium junceum) having many green flexible rushlike twigs.
Webster 1913

Spanish brown

  • a species of earth used in painting, having a dark reddish brown color, due to the presence of sesquioxide of iron.
Webster 1913

Spanish buckeye

  • (Bot.), a small tree (Ungnadia speciosa) of Texas, New Mexico, etc., related to the buckeye, but having pinnate leaves and a three-seeded fruit.
Webster 1913

spanish burgoo

  • noun Spanish version of burgoo
    olla podrida.
WordNet

Spanish burton

  • (Naut.), a purchase composed of two single blocks. A double Spanish burton has one double and two single blocks. Luce (Textbook of Seamanship).
Webster 1913

spanish capital

  • noun the capital and largest city situated centrally in Spain; home of an outstanding art museum
    Madrid; capital of Spain.
WordNet

spanish cedar

  • noun tropical American tree yielding fragrant wood used especially for boxes
    Spanish cedar; Cedrela odorata.
WordNet

spanish cedar tree

  • noun tropical American tree yielding fragrant wood used especially for boxes
    Spanish cedar; Cedrela odorata.
WordNet

Spanish chalk

  • (Min.), a kind of steatite; so called because obtained from Aragon in Spain.
Webster 1913

spanish chestnut

  • noun wild or cultivated throughout southern Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia
    Castanea sativa; sweet chestnut; European chestnut.
WordNet

spanish civil war

  • noun civil war in Spain in which Franco succeeded in overthrowing the republican government; during the war Spain became a battleground for fascists and socialists from all countries; 1936-1939
WordNet

Spanish cress

  • (Bot.), a cruciferous plant (lepidium Cadamines), a species of peppergrass.
Webster 1913

Spanish curiew

  • (Zoöl.), the long-billed curlew. U.S.
Webster 1913

spanish dagger

  • noun yucca of southeastern United States similar to the Spanish bayonets but with shorter trunk and smoother leaves
    Yucca gloriosa; Spanish dagger.
  • noun arborescent yucca of southwestern United States and northern Mexico with sword-shaped leaves and white flowers
    Yucca carnerosana; Spanish dagger.
WordNet

Spanish daggers

  • noun yucca of southeastern United States similar to the Spanish bayonets but with shorter trunk and smoother leaves
    Yucca gloriosa; Spanish dagger.
  • noun arborescent yucca of southwestern United States and northern Mexico with sword-shaped leaves and white flowers
    Yucca carnerosana; Spanish dagger.
WordNet
  • (Bot.) See Spanish bayonet.
Webster 1913

Spanish elm

  • noun tropical American timber tree
    Cordia gerascanthus; princewood.
  • noun large tropical American tree of the genus Cordia grown for its abundant creamy white flowers and valuable wood
    princewood; Cordia alliodora; Equador laurel; salmwood; cypre.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), a large West Indian tree (Cordia Gerascanthus) furnishing hard and useful timber.
Webster 1913

Spanish feretto

  • a rich reddish brown pigment obtained by calcining copper and sulphur together in closed crucibles.
Webster 1913

Spanish flag

  • (Zoöl.), the California rockfish (Sebastichthys rubrivinctus). It is conspicuously colored with bands of red and white.
Webster 1913

Spanish fly

  • noun green beetle of southern Europe
WordNet
  • (Zoöl.), a brilliant green beetle, common in the south of Europe, used for raising blisters. See Blister beetle under Blister, and Cantharis.
Webster 1913

Spanish fox

  • (Naut.), a yarn twisted against its lay.
Webster 1913

spanish garlic

  • noun European leek cultivated and used like leeks
    sand leek; giant garlic; Allium scorodoprasum; rocambole.
WordNet

spanish gorse

  • noun erect shrub of southwestern Europe having racemes of golden yellow flowers
    Spanish broom; Genista hispanica.
WordNet

Spanish grass

  • . (Bot.) See Esparto.
Webster 1913

spanish grunt

  • noun a kind of grunt
    Haemulon macrostomum.
WordNet

spanish guinea

  • noun a country of west central Africa (including islands in the Gulf of Guinea); became independent from Spain in 1968
    Equatorial Guinea; Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
WordNet

spanish heath

  • noun erect dense shrub native to western Iberian peninsula having profuse white or pink flowers; naturalized in southwestern England
    Portuguese heath; Erica lusitanica.
WordNet

spanish inquisition

  • noun an inquisition initiated in 1478 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that guarded the orthodoxy of Catholicism in Spain (especially from the 15th to the 17th centuries)
    • the Spanish Inquisition was administered by both civil and church authorities which gave it ultimate power
    • Torquemada was the inquisitor general for the Spanish Inquisition
WordNet

spanish iris

  • noun bulbous iris of western Mediterranean region having usually violet-purple flowers
    Iris xiphium; xiphium iris.
WordNet

Spanish juice

  • (Bot.), licorice.
Webster 1913

Spanish leather

  • . See Cordwain.
Webster 1913

spanish lime

  • noun tropical American tree bearing a small edible fruit with green leathery skin and sweet juicy translucent pulp
    Melicocca bijuga; genip; Spanish lime; ginep; mamoncillo; Melicocca bijugatus; honey berry.
  • noun round one-inch Caribbean fruit with green leathery skin and sweet juicy translucent pulp; eaten like grapes
    genip.
WordNet

spanish lime tree

  • noun tropical American tree bearing a small edible fruit with green leathery skin and sweet juicy translucent pulp
    Melicocca bijuga; genip; Spanish lime; ginep; mamoncillo; Melicocca bijugatus; honey berry.
WordNet

Spanish mackerel

  • noun flesh of commercially important fishes especially of the Atlantic coastal waters of America
  • noun any of several large marine food fishes of the genus Scomberomorus
  • noun medium-sized mackerel of temperate Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
    Scomber colias.
  • noun a California food fish
    jack mackerel; saurel; Trachurus symmetricus; horse mackerel.
WordNet
  • . (Zoöl.) (a) A species of mackerel (Scomber colias) found both in Europe and America. In America called chub mackerel, big-eyed mackerel, and bull mackerel. (b) In the United States, a handsome mackerel having bright yellow round spots (Scomberomorus maculatus), highly esteemed as a food fish. The name is sometimes erroneously applied to other species. See Illust. under Mackerel.
Webster 1913

Spanish main

  • the name formerly given to the southern portion of the Caribbean Sea, together with the contiguous coast, embracing the route traversed by Spanish treasure ships from the New to the Old World.
Webster 1913

spanish monetary unit

  • noun monetary unit in Spain
WordNet

Spanish moss

  • noun dense festoons of greenish-grey hairlike flexuous strands anchored to tree trunks and branches by sparse wiry roots; southeastern United States and West Indies to South America
    black moss; old man's beard; long moss; Tillandsia usneoides.
WordNet
  • . (Bot.) See Tillandsia.
Webster 1913

Spanish needles

  • noun the seed of bur marigolds
    beggar-ticks.
  • noun common bur marigold of the eastern United States
    Bidens bipinnata.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), a composite weed (Bidens bipinnata) having achenia armed with needlelike awns.
Webster 1913

Spanish nut

  • (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Iris Sisyrinchium) of the south of Europe.
Webster 1913

spanish oak

  • noun small deciduous tree having the trunk branched almost from the base with spreading branches; Texas and southern Oklahoma
    Quercus texana.
WordNet

spanish onion

  • noun large mild and succulent onion; often eaten raw
WordNet

spanish oyster plant

  • noun a golden thistle of southwestern Europe cultivated for its edible sweet roots and edible leaves and stalks; its yellow flowers are used as a substitute for saffron
    Scolymus hispanicus.
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spanish paprika

  • noun a mild seasoning made from a variety of pimiento grown in Spain
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spanish people

  • noun the people of Spain
    Spanish.
WordNet

spanish peseta

  • noun formerly the basic unit of money in Spain; equal to 100 centimos
    peseta.
WordNet

spanish pointer

  • noun a strong slender smooth-haired dog of Spanish origin having a white coat with brown or black patches; scents out and points to game
    pointer.
WordNet

Spanish potato

  • (Bot.), the sweet potato. See under Potato.
Webster 1913

spanish psyllium

  • noun plantain of Mediterranean regions whose seeds swell and become gelatinous when moist and are used as a mild laxative
    Plantago psyllium; fleawort; psyllium.
WordNet

Spanish red

  • an ocherous red pigment resembling Venetian red, but slightly yellower and warmer. Fairholt.
Webster 1913

Spanish reef

  • (Naut.), a knot tied in the head of a jib-headed sail.
Webster 1913

spanish rice

  • noun spicy rice with tomatoes and onions and green peppers
WordNet

spanish sahara

  • noun an area in northwestern Africa with rich phosphate deposits; under Moroccan control since 1992
    Western Sahara.
WordNet

Spanish sheep

  • (Zoöl.), a merino.
Webster 1913

spanish tamarind

  • noun shrubby tree of Madagascar occasionally cultivated for its edible apple-shaped fruit
    Vangueria madagascariensis.
WordNet

spanish tea

  • noun rank-smelling tropical American pigweed
    Chenopodium ambrosioides; American wormseed; wormseed; Mexican tea.
WordNet

spanish war

  • noun a war between the United States and Spain in 1898
    Spanish War.
WordNet

Spanish white

  • an impalpable powder prepared from chalk by pulverizing and repeated washings, used as a white pigment.
Webster 1913

Spanish windlass

  • (Naut.), a wooden roller, with a rope wound about it, into which a marline spike is thrust to serve as a lever.
Webster 1913

spanish-american war

  • noun a war between the United States and Spain in 1898
    Spanish War.
WordNet

spanish-speaking

  • adjective satellite able to communicate in Spanish
WordNet

war of the spanish succession

  • noun a general war in Europe (1701-1714) that broke out when Louis XIV installed his grandson on the throne of Spain; England and Holland hoped to limit Louis' power
WordNet

white spanish broom

  • noun low European broom having trifoliate leaves and yellowish-white flowers
    Cytisus multiflorus; Cytisus albus; white broom.
WordNet