Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Agave |
AgaveNoun1. Tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes; some cultivated for ornament or for fiber. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "agave" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1596. (references) |
"Agave" is a common misspelling or typo for: agape, agate, gave. |
| Domain | Definitions |
Industry | Textile fibre made of the leaves of the agave plant. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Agave (3 syl.) or "American aloe," from the Greek, agauos, admirable. The Mexicans plant fences of Agave round their wigwams, as a defence against wild beasts. The Mahometans of Egypt regard it as a charm and religious symbol; and pilgrims to Mecca indicate their exploit by hanging over the door of their dwelling a leaf of Agave, which has the further charm of warding off evil spirits. The Jews in Cairo attribute a similar virtue to the plant, every part of which is utilised. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
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Agave americana (many more) |
For the Greek queen, see Agave (Greek mythological queen).
Agave, a large botanical genus of the family Agavaceae. (At one point it as well as Amaryllis were placed among the Liliaceae, but have now definitely been placed in a separate order, the Asparagales; however Agave and related forms have by most recent sources, notably Judd et al, been placed in a family Agavaceae separate from the Amaryllidaceae.) Agave plants are succulent.
The plants are chiefly Mexican, but occur also in the southern and western United States and in central and tropical South America. The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves generally ending in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root. They grow slowly and flower but once after a number of years, when a tall stem or "mast" grows from the centre of the leaf rosette and bears a large number of shortly tubular flowers. After development of fruit the plant dies down, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem which become new plants. The most familiar species is Agave americana, a native of tropical America, the so-called century plant or American aloe (the maguey of Mexico). The number of years before flowering occurs depends on the vigour of the individual, the richness of the soil and the climate; during these years the plant is storing in its fleshy leaves the nourishment required for the effort of flowering. During the development of the inflorescence there is a rush of sap to the base of the young flowerstalk. In the case of A. americana and other species this is used by the Mexicans to make their national beverage, pulque; the flower shoot is cut out and the sap collected and subsequently fermented. By distillation a spirit called mezcal is prepared. The leaves of several species yield fibre, as for instance, A. rigida var. sisalana, sisal hemp, A. decipiens, false sisal hemp; A. americana is the source of pita fibre, and is used as a fibre plant in Mexico, the West Indies and southern Europe. The flowering stem of the last named, dried and cut in slices, forms natural razor strops, and the expressed juice of the leaves will lather in water like soap. In India the plant is extensively used for hedges along railroads.
Agave americana, century plant, was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century and is now widely cultivated for its handsome appearance; in the variegated forms the leaf has a white or yellow marginal or central stripe from base to apex. As the leaves unfold from the centre of the rosette the impression of the marginal spines is very conspicuous on the still erect younger leaves. The tequ plants are usually grown in tubs and put out in the summer months, but in the winter require to be protected from frost. They mature very slowly and die after flowering, but are easily propagated by the offsets from the base of the stem.
Above text from is an old text now in the public domain, but with the classification details updated.
Agave nectar has been used as an alternative to sugar in cooking.
FURTHER INFORMATION ON AGAVE IN COOKING
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Agave."
Synonym: AgaveSynonym: century plant (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Agave |
| English words defined with "agave": Agave americana, Agave atrovirens, Agave cantala, agave family, Agave sisalana, Agave tequilana, American agave ♦ cantala, Cebu maguey, Century plant ♦ Fiber plants ♦ genus Agave, genus Sansevieria ♦ Ixtli ♦ manila maguey ♦ pulque ♦ rattlesnake's master ♦ tequila. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "agave": Danaides ♦ jaumave ♦ lecheguilla ♦ matamoros hemp, mexican hemp ♦ tampico hemp. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Agave" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (agave), Dutch (agave), French (agave), German (agave), Italian (agave), Portuguese (agave), Spanish (agave, Pita), Swedish (agave). |
| Domain | Title |
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Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Mexico | Jalisco is renowned for its tequila, which is produced from the agave plant. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Agave" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Agave" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 4 | 175,879 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "agave": Agave Americana ♦ agave atrovirens ♦ agave cantala ♦ agave family ♦ Agave rigida ♦ Agave sisalana ♦ agave tequilana ♦ Agave Virginica ♦ american agave ♦ genus Agave. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
agave | 224 |
blue agave | 73 |
agave guadalajarana | 45 |
agave plant | 33 |
agave americana | 28 |
agave azul | 18 |
agave nectar | 15 |
agave tequila | 15 |
agave cactus | 11 |
agave blue club | 9 |
agave attenuata | 7 |
agave restaurant | 7 |
agave product | 7 |
agave blue plant | 7 |
agave tequilana | 7 |
agave detroit | 6 |
agave syrup | 6 |
agave el | 6 |
agave parryi | 5 |
agave angustifolia | 5 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "agave"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | agave. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | الأغاف الأمريكي الصبار الأمريكي. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | столетник (centenarian), американска агава (sisal). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | agave. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | agave. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | agavo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kulta-agaave (American agave, American aloe, century plant), jättiagaave (American agave, American aloe, century plant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | agave. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Agave (American agave, American aloe, century plant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | αγκαβέ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | agávé. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | agave (American agave, American aloe, century plant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 龍舌蘭 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | りゅうぜつら" (century plant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 용설란. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | lus ny shiaght bleeaney. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papiamen | kukuisa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | agaveay piteira (cigarette holder, cigar-holder, magus), agave. (various references) agavã. (various references) агава. (various references) agava. (various references) agave (American agave, American aloe, century plant, Pita). (various references) agave (American agave, American aloe, century plant). (various references) agav, sabır out. (various references) агава, американський столітник. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "agave": agaves. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-g-v" | |
-1 letter: gave. | |
-2 letters: aga, age, ava, ave, gae, veg. | |
-3 letters: aa, ae, ag. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-e-g-v" | |
+1 letter: agaves, gavage, lavage, ravage, savage. | |
+2 letters: average, avgases, gavages, lavages, ravaged, ravager, ravages, salvage, savaged, savager, savages, vaginae, vantage. | |
+3 letters: aasvogel, averaged, averages, avgasses, cleavage, divagate, giveaway, gravamen, gravidae, margrave, navigate, ravagers, salvaged, salvagee, salvager, salvages, savagely, savagery, savagest, stravage, vagaries, vaginate, vantages, vicarage. | |
+4 letters: aasvogels, advantage, aggravate, agitative, averagely, averaging, caveating, cleavages, divagated, divagates, galvanise, galvanize, giveaways, gravamens, graveyard, gravitate, margraves, navigable, navigated, navigates, palsgrave, salvagees, salvagers, stravaged, stravages, unaverage, variegate, vassalage, vicarages. | |
+5 letters: advantaged, advantages, aggravated, aggravates, evacuating, evaluating, excavating, flagstaves, galavanted, galivanted, galvanised, galvanises, galvanized, galvanizer, galvanizes, graveyards, gravitases, gravitated, gravitates, invaginate, margravate, margravine, overmanage, palavering, palsgraves, ravagement, reavailing, savageness, savageries, stravaiged, subaverage, vagabonded, vagrancies, variegated, variegates, variegator, vassalages, vegetarian. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 67 61 76 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- --. .- ...- . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01100111 01100001 01110110 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A g a v e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0067 0061 0076 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3573678871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
