ˈprerē, -ri also ˈpra(a)r- or ˈprār-, chiefly substand pəˈr- noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French, from Old French praerie, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin prataria, from Latin pratum meadow + -aria -ary; akin to Latin pravus crooked, wrong, bad, Middle Irish rāth, rāith earthworks, fortification Middle Welsh bed rawt grave mound
1. : a meadow or tract of grassland: as
a. : an extensive tract of level or rolling land in the Mississippi valley characterized in general by a deep fertile soil and except where cultivated by a covering of tall coarse grasses mostly without trees — compare pampa , plain , savanna , steppe
b. : one of the plateaus into which the prairies proper merge on the west and whose treeless state is due to dryness
c. : a low sandy wet and often water-covered grass-grown tract in the Florida pinewoods
2. : a light yellowish brown that is stronger and slightly redder and lighter than khaki, darker and slightly yellower than walnut brown, and slightly darker than manila