Sa·van·na n. A tract of level land covered with the vegetable growth usually found in a damp soil and warm climate, -- as grass or reeds, -- but destitute of trees. [Spelt also savannah.]
Savannahs are clear pieces of land without woods. --Dampier.
Savanna flower Bot., a West Indian name for several climbing apocyneous plants of the genus Echites.
Savanna sparrow Zool., an American sparrow (Ammodramus sandwichensis or Passerculus savanna) of which several varieties are found on grassy plains from Alaska to the Eastern United States.
Savanna wattle Bot., a name of two West Indian trees of the genus Citharexylum.
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Wat·tle n.
1. A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods.
And there he built with wattles from the marsh
A little lonely church in days of yore. --Tennyson.
2. A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
3. Zool. (a) A naked fleshy, and usually wrinkled and highly colored, process of the skin hanging from the chin or throat of a bird or reptile. (b) Barbel of a fish.
4. (a) The astringent bark of several Australian trees of the genus Acacia, used in tanning; -- called also wattle bark.
5. Material consisting of wattled twigs, withes, etc., used for walls, fences, and the like. “The pailsade of wattle.”
6. Bot. In Australasia, any tree of the genus Acacia; -- so called from the wattles, or hurdles, which the early settlers made of the long, pliable branches or of the split stems of the slender species. The bark of such trees is also called wattle. See also Savanna wattle, under Savanna.
Wattle turkey. Zool. Same as Brush turkey.