Dictionary

alligator pear en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

The "alligator" is likely an alteration of Spanish aguacate, perhaps influenced by the similarity in texture between the skin of the fruit and of an alligator.

Meanings

1. (Caribbean, Louisiana, Southern-US, dialectal, especially) An avocado.
   • There was a tree just behind which bore alligator pears, and all about were the cocoa-nuts which gave the land its revenue. 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 52”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

pear