saw palmetto

noun

a shrublike palmetto, Serenoa repens, of the palm family, native to the southern U.S., having green or blue leafstalks set with spiny teeth.
a tall palm, Acoelorraphe wrightii, of Florida and the West Indies.

Origin of saw palmetto

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800

Words nearby saw palmetto

savvy, saw, saw doctor, saw grass, saw log, saw palmetto, saw pit, saw set, saw-off, saw-pit, saw-toothed

Example sentences from the Web for saw palmetto

  • The gobbler got back to land, and led us a fruitless chase into the thicket of saw-palmetto.

    Voyage of the Paper Canoe |Nathaniel H. Bishop

  • I put out my hand and felt the ragged edge of saw-palmetto, then slipped in behind him, moving scarcely more than a yard a minute.

    Wings of the Wind |Credo Harris

  • Very well; now, break a fan from that saw-palmetto and sweep a place for me on the ground—that way.

    The Firing Line |Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for saw palmetto

saw palmetto

noun

any of several dwarf prickly palms, esp any of the genus Sabal, of the southeastern US