amole

American  

[uh-moh-ley, ah-maw-le] / əˈmoʊ leɪ, ɑˈmɔ lɛ /

noun

Southwestern U.S.

plural

amoles

1. the root of any of several plants, as Mexican species of agaves, used as a substitute for soap.

2. any such plant itself.

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Etymology

Origin of amole

< Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl ahmōlli soap

Example Sentences

The only times he has gone hunting was for wild swine, he said, partly because the pigs were killing the purple amole, an endangered purple flower that grows in central California.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 1, 2022

After that she turned her attention to drawing a hillside whitened here and there with amole bloom showing in its purity against the warm grayish-tan background.

From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene

This the early Spanish-Californians used extensively in lieu of soap, and esteemed greatly as a hair tonic, and it was known by them as "amole."

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

Behind him came twenty or thirty more penitentes, the most I ever saw at once, some of them whipping themselves with big broad whips made out of amole.

From The Blood of the Conquerors by Fergusson, Harvey

In the meantime eight or ten men have gathered the amole and soke.

From Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) A Record of Five Years' Exploration Among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre; In the Tierra Caliente of Tepic and Jalisco; and Among the Tarascos of Michoacan by Lumholtz, Carl