bolson

[ bohl-sohn ]

/ boʊlˈsoʊn /

a desert valley, the level of which has been raised by aggradation, usually draining into a playa.

Origin of bolson

1830–40, Americanism; < Spanish: big purse, equivalent to bols(a) purse (< Late Latin bursa; see bursa) + -ón augmentative suffix

The vallon was therefore a cul-de-sac; or, as the trapper in his native synonyme called it, a bolson.

The Wild Huntress |Mayne Reid
Such lovely landscape was presented to our eyes in the “bolson” into which our trapper-guide had conducted us.

The Wild Huntress |Mayne Reid
With a band of deserters, who chose him for their chief, he had taken refuge beyond the wild and waterless Bolson de Tonoro.

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard |Joseph Conrad
The collector stated that the large tortoises had been found in only one bolson in Coahuila.

A New Tortoise, Genus Gopherus, From North-central Mexico |John M. Legler

All accounts agree in speaking of the bolson of Cuzco as well provided by nature in this respect.

The Prehistoric World |E. A. Allen

bolson

/ (bəʊlˈsəʊn) /

Southwestern US a desert valley surrounded by mountains, with a shallow lake at the centre

C19: from American Spanish bolsón, from Spanish bolsa purse, from Late Latin bursa bag; see purse