‖ maguey
(ˈmægweɪ; Sp. maˈgej)
Forms: 6 magueans, magueis, -eiz, -aiz, maguay, 7 manguay, mangouay, 8 ma(y)quey.
[Sp., a. Haitian.]
The American aloe, Agave Americana.
| 1555 Eden Decades 135 Magueans which is an herbe muche lyke vnto that which is commonly cauled Sengrene or Orpin. [The Latin has palmarum puta Magueiorum, quæ est herba, etc.] 1586 Chilton's Voy. in Hakluyt, About Mexico..there groweth a certeine plant called magueis which yeeldeth wine [etc.]. 1589 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China, etc. 320 A plant called Maguey... They take out of this plant wine, which is that which the Indians doo drinke ordinarily, and the Negros. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xxix. 420 They strewd round about a great quantitie of the boughes of Manguay, the leaves whereof are large and pricking. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 363 There are some that furiously lash their bare shoulders with thorns of Mangouay. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Maquey or Mayquey, an admirable Tree in New Spain, in the West-Indies. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. (1718) 318 Their most remarkable plant is that call'd Maguey. 1899 Atlantic Monthly LXXXIII. 758/1 He who has once slept upon a mass of the shredded fibres of the maguey, or Spanish bayonet, will not be envious of the down couches of kings. |
b. attrib., as maguey fibre, maguey leaf, maguey tree.
| 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 128 They call it a Maguey Tree, and from it they get Wine, Vinegar, Honey, Thread, Needles, Stuffs for cloathing, or Sails for Canoes and Small Boats, and Timber for building. 1893 Outing (U.S.) XXII. 111/1 A small roll made from the fiber of the maguey leaf. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 5/1 All the maguey fibre Mexico can produce will be taken at good prices. |