alligator pear

alligator pear

English

Etymology

The "alligator" is likely from an alteration of Spanish aguacate.

Noun

alligator pear (plural alligator pears)

1. (dialectal, now chiefly Caribbean and Southern US, especially Louisiana) An avocado.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 52

     There was a tree just behind which bore alligator pears, and all about were the cocoa-nuts which gave the land its revenue.

Translations

(dialectal) avocado

French: poire-alligator, poire d'alligator

German: Alligator-Birne