- mescal
- (mexcal or mezcal [meskál] < Nahuatl metl 'maguey' and (i)xcalli 'stew' < ixcalhuia 'to cook or boil something.' The original meaning of this term refers to an intoxicating drink obtained from the maguey or agave plant)1) New Mexico: 1831. Another name for the agave plant. Also refers to the root or the young bud stalk of the plant used for food.See also maguey.Alternate forms: mascal, mescale, mezcal, muscal, muscale.2) California: 1833. An intoxicating drink prepared with the fermented juice or pulp of the agave plant. By extension, any intoxicating drink.Also called mescal liquor.3) Southwest: 1887. Another name for the peyote plant. See peyote.4) According to Blevins, this term also applies to a food prepared from mescal1. The DRAE references mezcal as a variety of agave or a liquor obtained by fermenting and distilling the heads of the plant. Santamaría defines mexcal (or mezcal) as an alcoholic drink extracted by distilling the fleshy leaf or the head of some species of maguey. He notes that the species used for making the drink are Agave mexicana, A. wixlinzeni, A. desipiens. The drink is popular in central and northern Mexico as well as in New Mexico and Texas.
Cowboy Talk. A Dictionary of Spanish Terms. Robert N. Smead. 2013.