Agave americana

Agave americana
    n 1: widely cultivated American monocarpic plant with greenish-
         white flowers on a tall stalk; blooms only after ten to
         twenty years and then dies [syn: {American agave}, {Agave
         americana}]
    

Sisal grass \Si*sal" grass`\, Sisal hemp \Si*sal" hemp`\,
   The prepared fiber of the {Agave Americana}, or American
   aloe, used for cordage; -- so called from Sisal, a port in
   Yucatan. See {Sisal hemp}, under {Hemp}.
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Pita \Pi"ta\, n. [Sp.] (Bot.)
      (a) A fiber obtained from the {Agave Americana} and other
          related species, -- used for making cordage and paper.
          Called also {pita fiber}, and {pita thread}.
      (b) The plant which yields the fiber.
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Maguey \Mag"uey\, n. [Sp. maguey, Mexican maguei and metl.]
   (Bot.)
   Any of several species of {Agave}, such as the {century
   plant} ({Agave Americana}), a plant requiring many years to
   come to maturity and blossoming only once before dying; and
   the {Agave atrovirens}, a Mexican plant used especially for
   making {pulque}, the source of the colorless Mexican liquor
   {mescal}; and the {cantala} ({Agave cantala}), a Philippine
   plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine. See
   {Agave}.
   [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]

   2. A hard fibre used in making coarse twine, derived from the
      Philippine Agave cantala ({Agave cantala}); also called
      {cantala}.
      [WordNet 1.5]
    

Agave \A*ga"ve\ ([.a]*g[=a]"v[-e]), prop. n. [L. Agave, prop.
   name, fr. Gr. 'agayh`, fem. of 'agayo`s illustrious, noble.]
   (Bot.)
   A genus of plants (order {Amaryllidaceae}) of which the chief
   species is the maguey or century plant ({Agave Americana}),
   wrongly called Aloe. It takes from ten to seventy years,
   according to climate, to attain maturity, when it produces a
   gigantic flower stem, sometimes forty feet in height, and
   perishes. The juice has purgative and diuretic properties.
   The fermented juice is the {pulque} of the Mexicans;
   distilled, it yields {mescal}. A strong thread and a tough
   paper are made from the leaves, and the wood has many uses.
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Amole \A*mo"le\, n. [Mex.] (Bot.)
   Any detergent plant, or the part of it used as a detergent,
   as the roots of {Agave Americana}, {Chlorogalum
   pomeridianum}, etc. [Sp. Amer. & Mex.]
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
    

Century \Cen"tu*ry\, n.; pl. {Centuries}. [L. centuria (in
   senses 1 & 3), fr. centum a hundred: cf. F. centurie. See
   {Cent}.]
   1. A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a
      hundred things. [Archaic.]
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            And on it said a century of prayers.  --Shak.
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   2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place
      over two centuries ago.
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   Note: Century, in the reckoning of time, although often used
         in a general way of any series of hundred consecutive
         years (as, a century of temperance work), usually
         signifies a division of the Christian era, consisting
         of a period of one hundred years ending with the
         hundredth year from which it is named; as, the first
         century ({a}. {d}. 1-100 inclusive); the seventh
         century ({a}.{d}. 601-700); the eighteenth century
         ({a}.{d}. 1701-1800). With words or phrases connecting
         it with some other system of chronology it is used of
         similar division of those eras; as, the first century
         of Rome (A.U.C. 1-100).
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   3. (Rom. Antiq.)
      (a) A division of the Roman people formed according to
          their property, for the purpose of voting for civil
          officers.
      (b) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army
          was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion.
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   {Century plant} (Bot.), the {Agave Americana}, formerly
      supposed to flower but once in a century; -- hence the
      name. See {Agave}.

   {The Magdeburg Centuries}, an ecclesiastical history of the
      first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes,
      compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars at
      Magdeburg.
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