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Joshua tree definition

☆ Joshua tree

a tree (Yucca brevifolia) of the agave family, found in the SW U.S. and characterized by branches that are extended grotesquely like upraised arms and by dagger-shaped, spine-tipped leaves

Etymology: ? Mormon coinage on the fancied resemblance of the angular branches to the arms of Joshua leading the Israelites

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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