Yucca
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca, having long, pointed, and rigid leaves at the top of a woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy white blossoms.
"YUCCA: The Indian Yucca; vulgô. / The Characters are; / It hath the Appearance of an Aloe, the Leaves ending in a ſharp Point, but will grow in the Habit of a Tree; […] The Species are; / 1. Yucca; foliis Aloes. C. B. P. The common Yucca. / 2. Yucca; foliis filamentoſis. Moriſs. Yucca with Threads growing from the Leaves.[…]"
- 2 any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca having usually tall stout stems and a terminal cluster of white flowers; warmer regions of North America wordnet
- 3 The yuca (cassava). obsolete, proscribed
"Jucca, ſive Yucca Peruana. The root whereof the bread Caſua, or Cazava is made."
- 1 Ellipsis of Yucca Mountain. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
"Add this issue tot the myriad of other problems at Yucca Mountain: its active seismicity, including last year's revelation in Science that the earth's crust at Yucca is less stable than scientists previously had believed […]"
- 2 An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Mohave County, Arizona, United States.
Example
More examples"Far out upon the plains the lone wolf skulked among the sage and cactus in search of the rabbit and antelope, or lay panting in the scanty shade of the yucca."
Etymology
Variant of yuca, sometimes said to be from Kari'na yuca (“cassava (Manihot esculenta)”), but this latter appears to be a ghost word. The word was applied to plants of the genus Yucca (now the main sense), because Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and others confused them with the cassava.
Related phrases
More for "yucca"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.