bolson

American  

[bohl-sohn] / boʊlˈsoʊn /

noun

1. a desert valley, the level of which has been raised by aggradation, usually draining into a playa.

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bolson British  

/ bəʊlˈsəʊn /

noun

1. a desert valley surrounded by mountains, with a shallow lake at the centre

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Etymology

Origin of bolson

1830–40, < Spanish: big purse, equivalent to bols ( a ) purse (< Late Latin bursa; bursa ) + -ón augmentative suffix

Example Sentences

The vallon was therefore a cul-de-sac; or, as the trapper in his native synonyme called it, a bolson.

From The Wild Huntress Love in the Wilderness by Reid, Mayne

Other maps show this bolson to include internally drained portions of the Mexican highlands from northeastern Chihuahua to the region near Lerdo and Torreon.

From A New Tortoise, Genus Gopherus, From North-central Mexico by Legler, John M.

Los de a pie que no llevan escopetas tienen lanza, flecha, y honda con su provision de piedras en un bolson como de granaderos.

From A Vanished Arcadia: being some account of the Jesuits in Paraguay 1607-1767 by Cunninghame Graham, R. B. (Robert Bontine)

The collector stated that the large tortoises had been found in only one bolson in Coahuila.

From A New Tortoise, Genus Gopherus, From North-central Mexico by Legler, John M.

Our guide was of opinion that this bolson would serve as a hiding-place, until we could rest our horses.

From The Wild Huntress Love in the Wilderness by Reid, Mayne