plural peyote or peyotes: a small, low, spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii) of Mexico and southern Texas that has bluish- to grayish-green dome-shaped stems having jointed disk-shaped tubercles with tufts of woolly white hairs and that contains psychoactive alkaloids
Huichols speak of the peyote they gather as the flesh of deer, and of the tap root they customarily leave in the ground as its "bones," from which new plants will grow …—Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst
Peyote, a small, mescaline-laden cactus that grows in Mexico and Texas …—The Wilson Quarterly
called alsomescal
2
: a hallucinogenic drug containing mescaline that is derived from the dried disk-shaped tops of the peyote cactus and is used especially in the religious ceremonies of some Indigenous American peoples
In my childhood home, the word "medicine" is how we referred to peyote. … At a very young age, I understood the sacredness of this medicine …—Dawn D. Davis
Recent Examples on the WebMandrake, hellebore, hyoscyamus, opium poppy, ergot fungi, peyote, cannabis.—Martha McPhee, Vogue, 24 July 2024 Landau explains that in Mexico peyote has become scarce due to tourism, agriculture and mining.—Food Drink Life, The Mercury News, 22 June 2024 The experience: Considered the most gentle of the plant medicine experiences, peyote elicits visual effects in a softer, less confronting manner than ayahuasca and psilocybin.—Michaela Trimble, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Apr. 2024 In 1981, the Department of Justice sanctioned the use of peyote, a psychoactive cactus, in Native American Church rituals.—Ernesto Londoño Meridith Kohut, New York Times, 12 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for peyote
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Word History
Etymology
Mexican Spanish peyote, from Nahuatl peyotl peyote cactus
: a drug containing mescaline that causes hallucinations and is obtained from the dried round and flattened tops of a small spineless cactus of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico
: a small, low, spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii) of Mexico and southern Texas that has bluish- to grayish-green dome-shaped stems having jointed disk-shaped tubercles with tufts of woolly white hairs and that contains psychoactive alkaloids
called alsomescal
2
: a hallucinogenic drug containing mescaline that is derived from the dried disk-shaped tops of the peyote cactus and is used especially in the religious ceremonies of some Indigenous American peoples
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