chaparral

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: chap=ar=ral

CIDE DICTIONARY

chaparral, n. [Sp., fr. chaparro an evergeen oak.].

•  A thicket of low evergreen oaks.  [1913 Webster]
•  An almost impenetrable thicket or succession of thickets of thorny shrubs and brambles.  [1913 Webster]

Chaparral cock; fem. Chaparral hen (Zoöl.), a bird of the cuckoo family (Geococcyx Californianus), noted for running with great speed. It ranges from California to Mexico and eastward to Texas; -- called also road runner, ground cuckoo, churea, and snake killer. It is the state bird of New Mexico.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chaparral, n. US dense tangled brushwood; undergrowth.

Idiom

chaparral cock = ROADRUNNER.

Etymology

Sp. f. chaparra evergreen oak